Surviving Middle School
by SKYHOUSE
Summary: Percy and his friends go to middle school. Will they survive? It will be harder than they think.
1. chapter one

**Hey guys! Before you read this, here are a few things to note:**

**1\. I obviously don't own PJO**

**2\. Expect a few grammar/spelling errors in some of the chapters (oops)**

**3\. Don't expect a lot of author's notes (I'll start doing them after chapter 8)**

**4\. Sorry if it bothers anyone that I over-italicize**

**I'm writing this fanfiction because I got sick of reading high school ones (seriously why are there so many?). It's also my first, so it's not going to be perfect. I'll learn as I go along. Anyway, happy reading!**

**-SKYHOUSE**

* * *

Middle school is a _terrible _place.

It's only my first day but I hate it already. I've always hated school in general, considering I have ADHD and dyslexia and the fact that every teacher seems to hate me the second they lay eyes upon me. I know you're probably thinking, _well, maybe it will be different this year. _Been there, done that; every year has been the same. I walk in the classroom, the teacher is a freak, I don't understand a single word he/she is saying, everyone thinks I'm stupid, and I try to get through the year with a D average. That's how I lived _every single year _in elementary school.

Now I bet you're thinking, _but middle school is different. _You would be right. It is different, _it's worse. _

I've heard the stories and the rumors, and honestly I don't have a hard time believing them. Now I would have to face bullies, the popular cliques; _more teachers _that will hate me, _more people _that will think I'm stupid, and the list goes _on and on. _

So this year I have a plan. After years of learning my lesson that school is ridiculous and you just have to get through it, I've decided to stop being someone I'm not, which is smart and popular. Nico and Grover (my two best friends from elementary school), and I will survive middle school together. We won't talk to anyone else, we won't participate in class, and we'll avoid the bullies and the cliques. We would probably become the wallflowers of the school, but at least we won't get our asses whipped and look like complete losers.

I had a great summer; I was really going to miss it. _Why does it have to end so early? _I wondered while riding the subway to Goode Middle School. I've learned that riding the school bus is just asking for trouble when you're me. I would end up with gum in my hair and at least one of my shoes missing; it brings bad memories. Anyway, all I did this summer was go to the beach every day, which I didn't mind at all. I love the water, and the one thing I want to do that would be technically breaking the rules of my plan, is to try out for the swim team. I competed in national tournaments in California and judging from my results I'm probably considered the best swimmer in the nation, although only Nico and Grover know that. No one else knows who I am here in New York, even though I lived here my whole life. I am also considered the best surfer in the nation as well. I almost accepted the offer to stay in Hawaii for a year round surfing academy. Why did I turn it down? Well I guess I can say that I would miss my mom too much. We're really close, and I didn't feel like moving across the country away from her just to surf.

I was fantasizing of how much I couldn't wait for next summer when my best friend Nico came and sat down next to me "Hey Percy!"

I also hung around with Nico and Grover a lot over break. Hanging out with friends, going to the beach, swimming, surfing, _that's what I wanted to do today, _not go to school.

"Hey Nico. What's up?" Nico slumped in his chair and I could tell he was tired and a little scared.

"I'm just really dreading today. I mean we won't get to hang out with each other as much as we used to, and I won't be able to watch anime and horror films every day. I'm just not looking forward to it." Nico loved that kind of stuff.

"Are you scared?" He didn't deny it, he just shrugged and replied

"I mean, I guess, yeah. I'm mostly not looking forward to meeting new people you know?" Nico was kind of a loner before we became best friends. He doesn't like talking to anyone else besides me and Grover.

"Well, don't be. Just stick to the plan, remember?" Nico finally smiled a bit and said

"Right, we'll get through this together." I nodded in agreement and we finally arrived. We got out of the subway station and met up with Grover, who was waiting by the steps of the school. He saw and hugged us both a little too forcefully. Nico didn't seem to enjoy it very much. Grover has a big heart; he was the first person I became friends with.

"I missed you guys so much!"

"Grover, we just went to the movies _last weekend._" I said and rolled my eyes.

"I know, I know. I'm just terrified to go in there!" He pointed to the entrance. I rolled my eyes again and said

"Just follow the plan. If you guys go in there looking afraid, then you'll be 6th grade bait for sure. Now come on lets go."

I lead them through the halls, which were packed with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The 6th graders looked scared of course. The 7th graders were minding their own business; they seemed pretty comfortable and bored. The 8th graders tried to look like the big shots, confident and superior. They were picking on some of the 6th graders, some of them I knew from Goode Elementary. I didn't like that at all, but I had to control myself. We tried to look like the 7th graders instead; calm, cool, and confident. I say we did a pretty good job of it. No one confronted us or anything, which was good. We had to go to the main office to pick up our schedules, and then we ran into our first problem.

"We have no classes together." Nico confirmed. "Only lunch."

Both of them gave me a worried look, I sighed and said

"We'll just have to deal with it. Just stick with the plan, and we'll be fine. See you guys at lunch." I tried to say with a smile, they nodded and we parted ways. I was disappointed that I had no classes with them, but lunch is good enough for me. The first class I had was English, with my dyslexia that was my worst subject. I sat in the back of the classroom, "listening" to the teacher speaking gibberish. I repeated the same cycle with my other classes until it was finally lunch time. Grover, Nico and I sat together. We were really pulling this thing off. We weren't getting bothered by anyone. They said that they did the same thing I had and were doing fine. I guess before I continue, I should introduce myself properly.

My real name is Perseus Jackson, anyone who calls me Perseus though is on my enemy list; I go by Percy. I love the water as I mentioned before. I'm neither tall nor short. I have sea green eyes and dark windswept hair, probably from going to the beach so much. I don't really have a muscular build, but my core is very strong from swimming and surfing so much. My mom's name is Sally Jackson, my dad died in the Navy before I was born. Then there's my stepfather, Smelly Gabe. I don't want to talk about him right now. He's a jerk, that's all I can say. That's pretty much it for now.

My last class of the day was science, it was my favorite subject. It's actually pretty interesting when I can understand it. I followed my usual routine that seemed to be working all day. I sat at the back of the classroom and took out my science textbook to look like I was actually doing something productive. Then this girl walked in.

One thing that I noticed was that she looked pretty confident, unlike every other 6th grader I've seen today. She was looking around the classroom trying to find a place to sit. I then realized that only seat available was next to me. She looked my way and we locked eyes. They were a startling gray, and she had tan skin with kind of curly hair. Normally I would think she was one of those pretty girls I would see in California or Hawaii. Except those eyes, they were intimidating. They intimidated me, _she intimidated me. _

She walked over my way almost a little reluctantly. Like she already knew I was some kind of delinquent. Regardless though she sat down next to me. I was even more surprised when she stuck out her hand to me and introduced herself.

"I'm Annabeth; Annabeth Chase." _Gee, that's great. I've actually met someone today. _I thought as I shook her hand.

"I'm Percy Jackson." I smiled to her. She returned it a little bit, but not much. Then she surprised me again by adding

"As in Perseus."

I couldn't believe it. I just met this girl and she already made my enemy list. No one called me that, not even my mom or best friends; they knew better. The only person who would call me that was Gabe, and he would do it just to annoy me. My father came up with the name before he died. Apparently he wanted me to be named after the Greek hero, Perseus, because he was really into Greek Mythology. When I didn't respond, she smirked at me. She had the nerve to _smirk at me_.

"Perseus; as in the one who cut off Medusa's head. _The _Greek hero, am I right?" She continued to smirk, I don't know why, probably because she enjoyed being right. This girl really got on my nerves, but I tried to respond as politely as I could.

"How did you know that?" She smiled proudly as reached down in my bag. _Wait, what is she doing? _She pulled out a Greek Mythology book, I'm sorry, _my Greek Mythology book, _one from my dad's collection. I forgot that I had that in there. I liked to read them sometimes. She must have been really observant or something and she put the pieces together. She still freaked me out though, she was probably really smart.

"I love Greek Mythology. I know everything about it. I know everything." _Wow, okay, this girl is really full of herself. _I tried to reply, but the teacher walked in. Annabeth immediately snapped her forward and took out a notepad and pen. The teacher introduced herself to the class

"I'm Mrs. Davidson. The person sitting next to you will be your lab partner for the rest of year." I groaned along with the rest of the class, Annabeth glared at my reaction, I immediately sat upright. Like I said, she intimidated me.

The rest of the time during class, my "lab partner" was actively participating and asking questions. _What a nerd _I thought to myself. She must have drawn some of that attention on me, because Mrs. Davidson called me out.

"Percy, please read the paragraph on page 5 of your textbook." _At least she doesn't call me Perseus. _I turned to page 5, and because of my dyslexia, the letters were literally jumping off the page, taunting me. I looked up and everyone was starting to stare at me, including Annabeth, wondering why I wasn't reciting the paragraph. When I still didn't say anything, Mrs. Davidson asked

"Percy, is there something wrong? Why aren't you reading?" She looked concerned. People were starting to whisper. _Thanks a lot Annabeth. _I tried to think of something, but the only thing I thought of was

"I don't want to." The class gasped, some giggled. Annabeth continued to stare.

"Excuse me?"

"I said I don't _want _to." The class giggled more. Mrs. Davidson looked a bit angry and I didn't blame her.

"Percy, read the paragraph. I don't tolerate that kind of behavior in my class." The class stared at me again. I tried to stare at the paragraph; letters were still jumping around. So, I decided to have some fun.

"Okay Mrs. Davidson. It says 'Please don't read me. I am a boring piece of information that none of you will remember when you grow up. Please have a nerd who actually cares about this kind of stuff to read it instead.'" I pointed to Annabeth and the class burst out laughing. I didn't even want to see Annabeth's reaction, but I can feel her eyes glaring at me. Mrs. Davidson said sternly

"Percy Jackson. You just earned detention on Friday. Congratulations. I hope that little joke was worth it." After she said that, the bell rang. I didn't care if I got detention or not. I'm just happy I got out of that situation. I started to pack up and leave, but Annabeth grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the classroom. _Woah, she looks pissed. Good job Percy. _I mentally patted myself on the back. I'm glad I was able to get on her nerves this time. When we were in the hallway, she said

"What was that for?! Why didn't you read the paragraph?" She glared at me.

"None of your business." It really wasn't. I glared back

"You just made a fool out of yourself and me! Are you that stupid?!" Now I started to get mad. She had no idea what I had to go through.

"I'm dyslexic!" Her face softened a bit, but not much.

"Well, so am I." She said back. I was a little shocked, Annabeth was so smart, but she could have been making it up.

"And I have ADHD." I tried to squeeze some kind of sympathy out of her towards me, but instead she said

"So do I." Okay, now she has to be lying.

"My dad died in the Navy." She continued to surprise me when she said

"My mom died of brain cancer." She has to be lying right, but she looked serious. She didn't look angry anymore at least.

"You're lying." Her expression didn't change. Instead she reached for something on the side of her backpack. She unfolded it and handed it to me, folding her arms. It was a doctor's note, stating that she indeed had ADHD and dyslexia.

"I had to show this to all of my teachers." She stated.

"But you're so-"

"Intelligent? I know I am."

"Not what I was going to say." (The truth is it was) "How do you handle it so well?"

"Because, I actually like to do my homework, and read, even though it's hard. You could've told Mrs. Davidson that you're dyslexic, or at least try to read paragraph."

I scoffed "And make a complete fool of myself? I don't think so." She rolled her eyes.

"Perseus, you shouldn't be ashamed of it. I've accepted it." There she goes, irritating me again.

"Don't call me that, that was my dad's name for me. But apparently, you understand that perfectly." I said while handing her back the note.

"Fine, I won't. Just don't do that again."

"Glad we understand each other Wise Girl." I had no idea where that came from. I guess if I called her a smartass I would be pinned to the lockers with her death grip. She laughed

"Was that supposed to be some kind of insult?" I shrugged

"Well you act like a know-it-all, and I _assume_ that you are a girl, am I wrong? I wouldn't be surprised if I was." Just as I predicted, she pushed me against the lockers.

"Watch it _Jackson. _You don't want to get on my bad side." I calmly replied

"Whatever." Then she glared at me one more time and ran off to a group of 7th graders. _Great, so she's a popular nerd. _Then I saw someone who I haven't seen in a really long time.


	2. chapter two

CHAPTER 2

_It was Thalia._

Thalia was my cousin on my dad's side. We used to hang out all of the time when we were kids. Then my mom married Gabe. Gabe reeked of smoke and alcohol and his smell filled up the apartment. I was embarrassed of him, so I stopped inviting Thalia over. Then she wouldn't stop asking why and I stopped talking to her all together. I didn't know she went to school here.

Annabeth walked over to her and a bunch of other 7th graders that were with her. Thalia hugged her, meaning my enemy, or "lab partner", and my cousin were really good friends. I don't know why, but I didn't budge. I didn't know what to do. _Should I say "hi"? No you idiot! You ignored her for four years! Four freaking years! And you never told her why! She will kill you!_ Just as I was finishing that thought, Annabeth blindly pointed towards me, probably complaining about my behavior in class. Thalia looked over in my direction, and she looked right at me. I saw her punk black hair, her Aerosmith T-shirt, black jeans like the ones Nico would wear, and her electric blue eyes, most likely filled him hatred. _Run you idiot! _So I did.

I glanced back while sprinting for my life in the opposite direction. She was barging through crowds of people, knocking them over while cursing. I knew I wouldn't last long. Thalia was always faster than I was, and running wasn't usually my thing, even if it meant getting killed by my own cousin. I made it to Nico at the end of the hallway where we were supposed to meet. "Percy, what's wrong, why were you running?"

"Nico," I huffed, trying catch my breath. "We have to get out—"

Nico eyes grew really wide. I turned around and then was immediately tackled to the ground by my long lost cousin. Then she starting beating me up, like I predicted. Thankfully Nico caught by her by surprise and was able to push her off. I got up quickly and covered my face before she could throw another punch.

"Thalia! I am so-" I was tackled again. This time it was different, _she tackled me into a hug. _I knew she must have missed me, but not this much. It didn't last much longer thankfully; otherwise it could have gotten awkward. She pulled away then slapped my arm, really hard.

"Why have you been ignoring me Kelp Head?!" Just a little nickname she came up with, because she knows I like to swim. "You've been ignoring me for four years, and I want to know why, right now!" she exclaimed angrily. Well I might as well tell her the truth now. People were starting to stare in our direction, enjoying the show; and I didn't really want word to get out that I had gotten beaten up by a girl.

I took a deep breath and started the story, but I didn't look at her. "Look, it was my stepdad okay? He was trashing the apartment, and I didn't want to invite you over to that. He's a jerk, and I hate him, _so much. _I was also really embarrassed of him. Then you wouldn't stop asking me why we couldn't go over to my apartment like we used to, and I didn't know how to tell you. I'm really sorry Thals, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." I still didn't look at her. At least I didn't have this feeling of guilt anymore.

She hugged me again after thinking it over. This one wasn't as long.

"I forgive you, I guess, just don't do it again." I nodded vigorously. I certainly will not _ever_ be doing that again. Then I turned to Nico, who seemed to be staring at Thalia. _Wait, is Nico drooling? No way, he doesn't like my cousin, or does he? _

"Nico, this is Thalia. She's my cousin, and she's in 7th grade." Nico smiled shyly and Thalia waved at him. Then Nico worked up the courage and said to her

"Is that an Aerosmith T-shirt? They're awesome!" Thalia smiled, she replied

"Hell yeah! I got to see them in concert. They were amazing." Nico smiled even more and they continued their conversation on rock bands. Then I saw Annabeth running towards us, probably to see why Thalia acted like a wild animal on the loose just a moment ago. She had someone with her, some guy who looked like he was in Thalia's grade. He had had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. They finally caught up to us and Annabeth said

"Thalia, what in the world! You just ran off while knocking down everyone in your path!"

"Including me!" The 7th grader said.

"Sorry Luke. Didn't see you there; along with everyone else." Thalia said naturally, as if she's done it before. Annabeth turned toward me, and looked a little confused. Thalia wrapped her arm around my shoulders coolly, and introduced me.

"This is my cousin Percy, who I haven't seen in four freaking years! Percy, meet Annabeth and Luke." Before I had a chance to say anything, Annabeth said

"_This is your cousin?! _This is the guy I told you was annoying me in class today!"

"Hey!" I protested. "You've got that the wrong way around!" I glared at her, and she gladly glared back. Thankfully, this Luke guy broke the tension.

"Well, like she said I'm Luke. Luke Castellan, nice to meet you." He seemed nice enough. I caught Annabeth looking up at him, practically drooling over him. I would be using that as blackmail later. I forgot about Nico, who seemed really uncomfortable.

"Oh, and this is Nico." Nico waved really shyly, and gave me a look that said _let's get out of here! _Meeting three people at once I knew was a little too much for him to handle.

"Well, we need to go. We have to get to the station." I gave Thalia one last hug and gave Annabeth one last hard glare. Nico said goodbye to Thalia, but not to everyone else. Nico and I got in the subway, and I decided to bring up and interesting topic.

"So, you like my cousin, right?" I grinned mischievously towards him, he panicked.

"What? No, no I don't!" My smile turned into a frown.

"You don't like her? What's wrong with you?!" I said in a pretend angry voice. He panicked again.

"No, I do like her Percy! I really do—" I interrupted him.

"Aha! So you do have a crush on her!" Nico's face turned a light shade of red, which was really noticeable because his skin was so pale. _I got him. _

"I got you. You should tell her how you feel." Nico looked at me in surprise.

"You would be okay with that?"

"Sure. It's not like she's my sister or anything."

"Maybe I will, but I don't know how-"The subway stopped. It was Nico's turn to get out. He told me that he would see me tomorrow. I said goodbye. Grover didn't ride the subway with us. He rides his bike to school, something about saving the planet or whatnot. It finally came to my stop, and I strolled home. I opened the door and was greeted with Gabe's nice cologne of Scotch and cigars. _How lovely. _

"How was school punk? Get kicked out yet?" He said with a hoarse tone.

"No Gabe, I'm afraid I didn't. So no sending me to that military school you were telling mom about." He glared at me.

"Not _yet, _punk, but I know you'll screw up eventually." I rolled my eyes.

"Sure Gabe." I started to head upstairs, when Gabe's rough voice called out to me

"Before you do anything, punk, I need to clean this mess up before your mom gets home." I looked over to the poker table, where Gabe would gamble with his friends all day. It was covered it chips and dip, burnt out cigars, empty scotch glasses, dirty poker chips, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't want to touch. I should have put it in a better way, but because of my ADHD, I had no patience.

"Clean up your own crap Gabe."

I started to head back upstairs, but before I made it to the top, I felt a big meaty hand grip the back of my shirt. He yanked me down, I stumbled backwards. I must a done a couple of flips or something before I got to the bottom, because once I landed on the hard wooden ground I felt a few cracks and pops in my spine. _That is not going to feel good in the morning. _

Did I miss something when I introduced myself earlier? Let's see, my name is Percy Jackson, I go to Goode Middle School, oh right, and I have an abusive stepfather.


	3. chapter three

_Am I paralyzed? _Was the first thing I thought when I landing on my back. I felt like I couldn't move a single inch. _Maybe I'll have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. What will Grover and Nico think? What about Thalia? Will my mom finally leave Gabe after this? _Suddenly I heard the sound of my mom's car outside, she was carrying groceries. Gabe realized it too, and hurried down towards me. He didn't exactly say "_Are you ok" _or "_We'll get you to the hospital as soon as we can." _He said something a little more like this.

"You better say that you fell down the stairs on your own, or next time will be a _whole _lot worse." _Worse than being paralyzed! What's worse than that?"_

I heard my mom walk in. Oh no, she's going to be horrified. She saw me lying on the ground with Gabe kneeling next to me. Her motherly instincts took over and she dropped everything to rush towards me.

"Gabe! What happened?!"

"Oh, Sally. It was horrible! I told Percy to be careful when he walked up the stairs, but he didn't listen and he slipped. He fell backwards and landed on his back really hard." Gabe put on his best fake grieving voice. I would have given him a round of applause, except I couldn't move my arms.

"We need to get him to the hospital. Gabe, grab your keys! I'll carry him to the car. Percy, honey, are you okay?"

"I-I can't move." I tried to be strong for her, but she had tears forming in her eyes.

"Percy, it's going to be okay." She sniffled and began to pick me up and carry me to the car. When we got there the doctor had to crack my spine back into place. He said I was going to be okay, but I was going to be really sore for the next few days. He suggested that I didn't run at all or walk too much. He tried to get me to use the wheelchair, but I refused. The last thing I need was more attention. He told me to take pain medication and go to weekly chiropractic appointments. Which Gabe didn't seem too happy about, considering he had to spend his gambling money, _serves him right. _

Gabe first started to abuse me over this past summer. That's why I would try my best to stay away from home and go to the beach. It was mostly pushing me around roughly everywhere when my mom wasn't home. I wanted to tell her about it, but Gabe threatened that he would hurt her if I said anything. So I stayed quiet. This was the first time he's ever done something like this. I was afraid of_ him_ the most. Not Annabeth, not school, not Thalia when she was mad. Those things would only go so far, but I'm afraid that my stepfather has no limits, especially when he gets drunk.

I got home and my mom helped me up the stairs this time. I told her that I definitely would _not _need her help showering. Before I got in, I grabbed the knife that I hid under my mattress.

I started cutting when Nico showed me how to do it last year. He told me that sometimes, it helps you forget about your problems. I agreed that he was right. It made me forget, for a little while. I held the knife in my right hand. _What bad things happened today? Let's see, well, I almost became paralyzed. _I slashed once on my wrist. I felt blood oozing out of the cut. _I had to meet Annabeth. _I slashed again, and then I wondered if meeting her was such a bad thing. I guess it was at the moment. _I got beat up by my cousin in front of the entire school. _Another slash. _Finally, I have to deal with this all over again tomorrow._ Four cuts, four bad things had happened to me today, and I'll remember them for a while. Once the wounds would heal though, it felt like _I was healing. _Sure, they would leave scars, but they were healed. I got in the shower and rinsed off the blood from my left arm.


	4. chapter four

I woke up feeling _tremendous _swelling and soreness from my back. I was able to get out of bed but when I looked in the mirror, there was a blackish-blue bruise on the small of my back. It wasn't they big at all, but when I tried to touch it, I wanted to cry out in pain and collapse. It hurt that much. It felt like an electric shock. Then I spotted the cuts on my wrists. I realized that I would have to wear a sweatshirt. I rode on the subway with Nico, and I found out that it was really uncomfortable sitting up straight. Nico asked if I was okay, I said yes. I wasn't going to tell anyone anything, because technically I would be lying to them. I definitely wasn't going to tell them that my stepfather was abusing me.

I didn't think of the weather report before I put on the sweatshirt. It wasn't like I had a choice. It turned out to be 95 degrees. Nico was laughing at me. I don't know if he still cuts of not, but I think that this has happened to him before. He doesn't think I still cut, because I haven't told him. So maybe he just thinks that I'm an idiot. Before lunch I had science with Annabeth. _Joy._

She laughed at me too, duh, of course she would. "Do you not watch the weather channel? Technically it's still summer you know." She pointed to my black sweatshirt. I was starting to sweat; the school had no air conditioning. The only thing I had under the sweatshirt was a regular T-shirt, and that would show what I did last night. I had to rinse my face in the bathroom to keep me from overheating earlier. I decided to make this a win for me.

"I'm not hot." I said trying not to simile.

She scoffed, "Yes you are, dummy." She sounded sure of herself.

"Stop flirting with me Chase." I grinned mischievously at her. She must have gotten the joke, because she pushed me roughly out of my seat. Unfortunately I landed right on my back. Annabeth and everyone were laughing at me because I couldn't get up. I had to grip the table to haul myself up. Annabeth must have figured that something was wrong because she helped me get back in my seat.

"Are you okay? I didn't push you that hard."

"I-I woke up with a bad back this morning. I'm just a little stiff. It happens sometimes." I did my best to sell it. Annabeth didn't seem to be convinced, but she dismissed it.

Thalia came to sit with me Grover and Nico at lunch. I was surprised. I didn't think she'd leave her friends just to sit with us. Nico was ecstatic. I came up with a really great idea to cool myself off. I decided to eat fast and head over to the school's pool area, but when I got there, Annabeth had beat me to it. She wasn't swimming or anything, instead she was on the bench reading some book about architecture. Besides her, it was empty. I was able to sneak away before she noticed anything.

-The next day wasn't any better. My back was still killing me. I still wore a sweatshirt in the 90 degree heat, except it was blue this time. When I got to science class, Mrs. Davidson introduced a project to us. I groaned, Annabeth smiled, until the teacher told us we had to work with _our lab partners. _Then she groaned along with the rest of the class, and glared at me. _Ugh! Why does she keep DOING THAT?! _

Annabeth reached in her backpack and handed her cell phone to me, saying nothing else.

"Gee, did Annabeth actually give _me _a phone? I'm glad there's some kind of humanity deep down in there somewhere." She glared at me harder. It felt like she was penetrating through my soul. _Again, WHY DOES SHE KEEP DOING THAT?! _

"No, dummy, _we're lab partners. _That means we have to work together on this project, which means _I _need your phone number to arrange meetings with you." _What is this? Some kind of business deal?_

I held her phone in my hands and typed in "911" then gave it back to her. She looked at it, scowled at me, took the nearest item she could find, which was a blue ballpoint pen, and threw it at my face. I had no time to react. The pen hit me in the forehead and flew across the room.

"Ouch!"

"Fine, be that way. Just give me _your phone."_ Reluctantly, I gave it to her. She typed in her number and sent a text message to herself. She gave my phone back. I read the text; it said "_U r the best Annabeth! So much better than me, the brainless Percy Jackson." _This time I scowled, and she grinned.

"I am _so _showing this to Thalia. I'll call you this weekend to work on the project."

"_This weekend? _But Mrs. Davidson said it wasn't due for another two weeks!"

"Unlike you, _Jackson, _I excel into everything that I do. That includes projects. Besides, the sooner we start, the sooner _we _get to stop seeing each other."

"You're such a nerd." We glared at each other and started to head out of the classroom. I saw the blue pen that hit my face in the corner. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. Annabeth gave me a confused look.

"I lost all of my pens already." I said embarrassingly. Annabeth rolled her eyes and headed out the door. I swore I heard her mumbling about me being a _brainless fish. _

Later that day I was finishing homework, which was absolute _torture. _

"Sweetie, someone sent you a text, and it doesn't seem like a very friendly one." My mom was standing at my doorway. She handed me my phone. I must have left it downstairs. _Huh, who would send me a not-friendly text? Oh right, my lab partner would. _The text read:

"_Listen Jackson, meet me at my place on Sat at 9 a.m. DON'T B LATE! My address is 1716 Wisdom Lane." _I put my face into my pillow and groaned.

"Ugh! She hates me."

"Who hates you honey?"

"Annabeth Chase, my lab partner. Ever since I've met her, she always gets on my nerves with "intelligence" and "knowledge". And she thinks I'm a brainless fish." My mom laughed at that and shook her head. She sat down beside me and smiled. My mom's smile always cheers me up. Whenever she's sad or I'm sad, she smiles anyway. She's the friendliest and most positive person I've ever met.

"Honey, she doesn't _hate _you. In fact, she probably _likes you."_

"Well she has a funny way of showing it!" I put my face back into my pillow and my mom laughed again.

"Not like that. I mean she probably _likes you, likes you." _I finally understood what she meant. I looked at her with disbelief.

"Mom! No she doesn't! You should see the way she looks at me. It feels like she's analyzing me, looking for the best way to take me down in a fight! She glares right into my eyes, and it freaks me out mom!" My mom chuckled and shook her head.

"Okay, honey. Well the next time she does that, instead of _intensely_ glaring back, try _smiling_ instead." I looked at her confusedly.

"How will that help?"

"It will catch her off guard. And maybe not make her 'hate' you, as much as you say she does." I thought about it for a moment. It would be kind of funny to see what her reaction might be.

"Okay, I'll try it mom. Thanks." My mom gave me a kiss on the forehead and told me goodnight. I looked down at the text message Annabeth sent me. It looked so full of hate, _but was it really? _I texted her back.

"_Sure thing, Wise Girl. Anything for u ." _I added a smiley face just for kicks. I knew I probably left her speechless and confused. Was it an insult or a compliment? On one end, I called her Wise Girl again. On the other, it sounds like it was a pretty friendly text. I smiled; I just loved to mess with Annabeth's head.


	5. chapter five

Everyone was saying that Thursday was supposed to be the hottest day this week. I really hoped that they were wrong, but of course they had to be right.

I was tossing and turning all night long. I finally had to get an ice pack from the freezer to keep me cool, because Gabe was too much of a cheapskate to pay for air conditioning. I could say that I got a couple hours of sleep and no more. It turned out to be way worse than what I had imagined.

I was _one hundred and five, _one hundred and five freaking degrees! You would think they'd have to cancel school at that temperature, but no. I was going to have to wear a sweatshirt in this heat. _Is that even_ _possible? Won't I die or something?_

I started to sweat again right when I walked out of my apartment. People were giving me odd stares the whole way to school. Nico asked if I was crazy, so I decided to play along with it. I told him that I was challenging myself to see if I could go the whole day wearing a sweatshirt without fainting. He called me a lunatic, but believed me and wished me luck. I used to pull _a lot _of daring yet stupid stunts in elementary school, so this was just a typical Percyish thing to do. It's a good thing Nico knows me so well, but it might be harder to explain to everyone else, _especially_ _Annabeth. _

When Grover saw me, he gave me the crazy eyes. Good thing Nico quickly interrupted him by saying,

"Percy Jackson, sweatshirt challenge." Grover quickly understood and began to settle down.

"Oh. Well, good luck Percy. You might need this though." Grover handed me a blue bandana with neon orange letters that said "_Camp Half Blood". _There was something wrapped inside. I unfolded it and found a necklace with clay beads.

"Grover, I haven't seen this since the last time we went to summer camp! Where did you find it?" Grover shrugged

"It was in my old backpack; you've must of given it to me and forgot to take it. Here's this too." Grover tossed me my old, orange camp T-shirt that probably still fit.

"Just in case you bail out, or hallucinate."

As I walked through the halls, I realized it might as well have been a beach party, without the 'party' and 'beach', part. Teachers wore dresses and skirts that were a little too short for my liking. The girls wore tank tops, jean shorts, and flip flops, which would normally be against dress code if it weren't over a hundred degrees. What appalled me the most, however, was that some guys were completely _shirtless_. This included the 7th grade bunch that Annabeth and Thalia hung out with. Luke was also one of them. He looked _okay._ He had his arm around Annabeth, pulling her closely to him, and laughing. I saw from a mile away that she was blushing furiously, which greatly amused me. I pulled out my iPhone, zoomed in, and took a snapshot of both of them. They looked cute together, and I think _Thalia _would think so too. _Take that, Annabeth. _

I mean, I can see why Annabeth likes him. He's got the blue eyes and the sandy short-cropped hair that most girls love. He seemed nice, especially to her, unlike _me_. Thalia told me that people call him "Three C Castellan". This is because he's the captain of three sports: flag football, basketball, and _swimming. _"C" stands for captain, and it's the letter of his last name. I kind of found that impressive. Emphasize, _kind of. _You see, I'm very hard to impress when it comes to athleticism like Annabeth is about academics, especially when it comes to water sports. _I'm _the king of that department for sure.

I really shouldn't be talking right now though, because I on the other hand was the dork wearing a sweatshirt. When everyone else looked like they were ready to cross the Sahara desert. I walked quickly avoiding the stares of others to the nearest water fountain. I soaked my blue bandana in the cold water, and tied it around my forehead under my bangs. It felt _so good. _The best I felt all morning. I also took a long drink and tied my camp half-blood necklace around my neck. When I headed to math class, my not-so-lovely math teacher, Mrs. Dodds, told me to take my sweatshirt off immediately. The class was asking a bunch of questions, because no one even had the guts to bring a sweatshirt today. Then I explained to them about the "Percy Jackson sweatshirt challenge". In the meantime Mrs. Dodds kept persisting that I'd take the sweatshirt off, but the class actually _begged _her to let me wear it. She eventually let me keep it on, probably because she wanted to see me faint, like everyone else did.

I continued to soak my bandana before every class, but I was starting to feel dizzy, and really, _really hot. _I ran into a few walls here and there, and I remembered I still had my swim trunks in my bag. I knew I _had _to get to the pool today. So I decided to skip lunch entirely. Annabeth usually showed up in the pool center around 15 minutes before the next class starts. That gave me forty minutes to cool off.

I entered the pool center and this time it was completely empty. I went to the boy's locker room and got dressed quickly. The chlorine-filled water was tempting me, glistening on the ceiling and the walls. _Forty minutes, that's it. _I jumped right in.

Did I mention how much I just _love water? _I could stay in it for days, if no one stopped me. It gave me some sort of power, and it was the only place I could go to that made me feel at peace. I started doing laps, racing back and forth and not getting tired doing it. I felt a lot better now, I even forgot about the bad spot on my back. For a moment I just floated, enjoying the refreshing feeling of cold water running through my scalp, but then I heard footsteps.

_What? _I glanced at my watch, it read _11:45. _Class started in 15 minutes. I over-swam. I didn't know what to do, so I ducked under while holding my breath. I sat on the bottom and opened my eyes.

I saw a blurry figure of what appeared to be Annabeth. I saw she had a large book tucked under her arm. She was walking towards the pool bleachers. Then she stopped and looked at the pool, appearing to be studying it. _Crap, I think she sees me. _I didn't move a muscle. She may see something, but she might not know it's me. Besides, I was sitting underwater 10ft deep, and the pressure wasn't affecting me. She could think I'm just some random object. Plus, I couldn't let her see my arm, or my back. I knew I could hold my breath for at least two and a half minutes. Past that though, I didn't know. Despite my hopes, she came on the side of the pool and sat down, staring right at me. I knew I would have to come up eventually, I just didn't want too. I glanced at my watch, it read 11:48. I've been under for three minutes and was starting to feel the need for air. After a few more seconds I couldn't take it anymore, and swam up.

I got to the surface and gasped for air, and I saw her still looking at me, studying me. She was wearing running shorts and a grey tank top that matched her eyes. She was also wearing owl earrings.

"Thank the gods, I was just about to jump in and rescue you. You looked dead under there." She said. I clutched my heart with my right hand, hiding my left behind my back.

"Oh, really?" I said with a high pitched voice. "My hero! My knight in shining armor! My-" She interrupted me by splashing water in my face, which I expected.

"So, now that I see that you're alive_, get out." _She said firmly.

"What?"

"You heard me. I need to read, and I need to be _alone. _Now get out of here." I forgot about my wrist for a moment, and replied

"Why should I get out just so you can read some dumb book about architecture?" I almost regretted it as soon as I said it. Her eyes filled with hate.

"It's not _dumb. _Don't ever, _ever _ insult any of my books again. Or you will deeply regret it." It may not sound like much of a threat, but if you could see her eyes right now, you would see why I was afraid. They were like storm clouds, forming a hurricane right before me. I quickly nodded in confirmation, and she smirked at the fear plastered on my face. I was getting out of the pool, and she hurried the process by grabbing my clothes from the bench. She shoved them on my bare chest. I was embarrassed for some reason. I wanted to cover my blush by pulling my t-shirt over my head, and then my sweatshirt. I was just about to leave, but then I spotted Annabeth's face. Her grey eyes were wide, and they looked like they were filled with confusion, fear, and worry? She slowly walked over to me. I was really confused.

"What is it?" She didn't answer me. Instead her eyes focused on the sleeve of my sweatshirt. She quickly grabbed my left wrist, which was still really sore. I jumped back instantly when she was about to roll my sleeve up to expose my cuts. I panicked, and curse my ADHD, I ran away from her, ignoring the calls of my name.

_She knows. _


	6. chapter six

_How could I have been so stupid?! _was the first thing I thought of as I sprinted away from Annabeth. I couldn't believe that I changed right in front of her like that, and I couldn't believe that she had seen them. There were only four cuts, but I guess she was too way too observant.

_I can't believe it, I can't believe it, I can't believe it, I can't- _This repeated over and over in my mind as I began searching for a bathroom, still afraid that she would follow me. Knowing the persistent-self she is; I would have expected her to run after me, demanding why I had done it. Then I realized why she didn't.

I had class with her nextperiod_._

I mentally and verbally cursed myself as I finally found another bathroom. I still had my swim trunks on. After I was fully changed again, my hair was already completely dry. Another weird fact about me: I dry quickly. I turned off full-panic mode and began pacing, thinking of what I should do. I could skip class and ignore Annabeth, but Mrs. Davidson already gave me detention for tomorrow, and I really didn't want another one. Annabeth would probably find me anyway, or worse, _tell someone. _I ran my hands through my messy hair. The only thing I could do was to face the music. _I'll have to see her eventually; it may as well be now. _

As I walked out of the bathroom casually, some people were already heading to their afternoon classes. I decided to go to class early like them, just in case Annabeth catches me in the hallway beforehand. Going to class early is probably the _last _thing that she thinks of. I walked into the dark and empty classroom and sat down in the back corner, my usual spot. I decided to scroll through some pictures on Facebook and Instagram to distract myself until class started. It wasn't long before I heard footsteps. I didn't check to see who it was. Unfortunately this person came down right next to me. _Annabeth. _

I pretended not to pay her any attention. I glanced at my watch, it read 11:58. Only two more minutes till class, but no one else came in.

It turns out Annabeth had enough of my stalling. In one swift motion, she grabbed my wrist again. I tried to pull away, but she was really strong. Just like that, my sleeve was pulled down too. I didn't try to pull away this time. It was too late, she's seen it. She stared at it, and then stared at me with serious eyes. I was afraid of what she was going to do now.

"You really shouldn't do this."

"Why not?" I replied stubbornly. We were in a full-out staring war. I couldn't back down. She gripped my wrist tighter, making me yelp in pain. She suddenly grabbed my bandana from the table, and started to drag me to the sinks that were in the classroom. Again, she was _really _strong. All I could do was protest, but she wasn't having any of that. She drenched my bandana in cold water, and impressively, tied it around my wrist with one hand. It felt good, and the cuts weren't exposed at all. They were completely hidden by the bandana, but Annabeth still held onto me, and dragged us back to our seats.

"Why did you do this?" she asked sharply.

"Will you let go of me?" I shot back.

"No. Now why-" I was finally saved by the bell. People were beginning to enter, chatting loudly amongst themselves. As Annabeth realized this, the only thing she said was,

"We're not done here." She finally let go of my wrist. I silently thanked her as I could feel life in my arm again, because at one point I was afraid she had cut off my blood circulation. She was going to kill me one day.

We didn't talk to each other for the rest of class, because Mrs. Davidson was giving some sort of "important" lecture. So Annabeth was completely engaged in taking notes. When Mrs. Davidson was finally done, class ended. I was the first one to get out of there, and for the rest of the day, only four words repeated over and over again in my mind.

_We're not done here._

What was that supposed to mean anyway? Why did she even c_are? _She hates me, and I'm not too fond of her either. I knew that she meant what she said though. I would have to answer her annoying questions soon, either tomorrow, or the next day when we had to work on our project together. At least I didn't faint, that's a plus. The pool really helped, but I don't think it was worth it.

The next day came soon enough. The news reporters said the heat wave was over, and that fall weather was finally coming to New York.

Not that it mattered. I failed to keep my wrist hidden, and the one person who saw them was the one person who hated me. She was probably going to do the responsible thing, and tell everyone I knew. I know Nico wouldn't care, Grover would probably be a little freaked out, Thalia would simply yell and beat me, and my mom, oh no, I couldn't even describe what my mom would do.

I wasn't looking forward to having detention this afternoon with Mrs. Davidson. I wanted to be done with school already. I was tired of waking up at seven a.m., going to classes, listening to teachers talk and talk. The weekend is the only thing I'm excited about, and how I was going to spend it. During science class, Annabeth didn't say a word to me, and I thought this day might go faster than I thought. However, Mrs. Davidson stopped me before I exited the classroom. Annabeth was already gone, along with everyone else. You know that feeling when you're in a classroom a_lone _with a teacher? Yeah, that feeling sucks doesn't it.

"Percy, I just wanted to let you know, that I've decided to dismiss your detention today. Your lab partner came to talk to me, and she explained your situation." _Oh Annabeth, you are so dead._

"Did she now?" I tried to say without sounding too angry.

"She did. Percy, I understand. It's not easy for people with your conditions to concentrate in class. Yet alone, learn anything. I'm glad she's your partner. She says that she is going to help you. In the meantime, I will try to make things easier for your sake." I nodded slowly, still shocked and furious that Annabeth would do this.

"Good, but please, try to control your sudden outbursts next time. I know it's hard with your ADHD, but at least try to control it." _Outburst? Who said it was an outburst?_

"Thank you for understanding Mrs. Davidson. You know what? I think I'm going to thank Annabeth, right now." I smiled devilishly, but she must have found it innocent, and she let me go. I marched straight to Annabeth's locker, where she was packing up all of her things for the weekend. She was crouched down, and didn't even acknowledge my presence as I stood over her. _She knew this was coming, but she did it anyway. _This made me even angrier.

"What the hell?!" I yelled at her, and I had every right to. She was the one in the wrong.

"What?" She said innocently, but she knew. She was prepared for this to happened, I was not. She seemed to have a plan for everything.

"You know what. Why did you tell Mrs. Davidson about _my personal business_?!" She finally stood up, making me realize that we were the same height. She casually swung her backpack over her shoulder, telling me that she wasn't afraid. She should be though, I was burning up, face included.

"I only did what _you _should've done." I scoffed,

"You had no right to tell her. It's _my _personal life, and you completely violated it." She just shrugged it off,

"Oh yeah? So you're mad at me, for getting you out of detention, and not making Mrs. Davidson hate you for the rest of the year?" I looked down trying to think of how to reply, but due to my pause, she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And you're lucky I didn't tell her about the _other _thing." She nodded suggestively towards to arm. I pulled back,

"You wouldn't dare." I stared her down, she raised an eyebrow.

"Try me?" She challenged. I looked away again, not knowing how to reply.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. See you tomorrow _Jackson, _and don't be late." I let her stroll off to her carpool that was waiting for her. I debated against going after her, because what was I supposed to say?

I walked the other direction, still angry, still furious, but this time, I was confused.


	7. chapter seven

Like every morning, I was rudely awakened by my alarm clock. Even though it was a Saturday, I still had to meet Annabeth for our stupid project. My mom worked the early morning shift at See's Candy on Saturdays, and she wouldn't get off until late at night. She worked every day; weekends being her longest working hours, so I wouldn't get to see her a lot. As for Gabe, weekends were the only days where he got off his lazy ass to work. He owns a hardware store in Brooklyn, so I would hardly get to see him either. Thank Gods. Ever since the accident, he hasn't talked to me since. Apparently, it's because of him that we have a roof over our heads. I say it's just another reason why my mom can't leave him, but I get what she means. Times were tough before my mom married Gabe when I was eight, mostly because of money issues. We had to live in a motel and eat fast food every night, which was completely fine by me. At least we were happy, just the two of us. My favorite times, were when my mom and I would go to Montauk beach for my birthday every summer. It didn't matter how much money we had, she would always find a way for us to go, every year since I was born. Sadly, that all changed this past summer. I had just returned home from a swimming competition in Florida, just a few days before my birthday, when my mom said we weren't able to go this time. She claimed that we just didn't have the money, but I knew she was lying. I'd expected Gabe to have something to do with it. He's been complaining about us going to that place ever since my mom married him. She hated displeasing people, especially when it came to Gabe. He would yell at her whenever she didn't do something right. I've learned to fight the urge to yell at him back, especially when my mom would apologize and beg for his forgiveness afterwards. I may only be twelve, but I knew the only reason why she was still with that creep. She wanted me to have a home, an education, and a regular life just like normal kids had. She also knew I liked to compete and travel, and Gabe was the only way I could do that. I've told her countless times that I didn't care about those things, because they weren't important. Then she would tell me that it was important, and that it mattered to her that I would graduate one day. I just wish she would leave him. She would be so much happier with someone who actually cared about her.

My watch read 5:00 a.m., I woke up early so that I would get the chance to surf beforehand. I quickly brushed my teeth and changed into my wetsuit without even bothering to brush my hair. It never seemed to cooperate with me, so now it was in all different directions, mostly sticking straight up. I didn't care. I snatched a granola bar from the kitchen and grabbed my favorite blue surfboard with a trident design on it. Along the way I put on my flip-flops and grabbed my school backpack. I locked the front door of the apartment and I was off.

It was pretty foggy and dark, but I saw the sun rising in the distance, signaling the start of the day to begin. It took a little less than an hour to get to Rockaway beach from Manhattan. I had to take the train just to get there. It's the closest decent beach from where I live. Normally I would prefer Montauk, but it's too far away. Long Island is a close second.

I slept on the long train ride. I felt so beat up from the first week, how was I going to survive the next one, or the next one, or the one after that? Before long I woke up, and I was there.

All I wanted to do was focus on surfing, nothing else. I'm pretty sure I succeeded too. I caught all the waves I wanted and never fell off once. The sun was fully up now, it looked like morning, somewhere around eight o'clock.

_Wait a minute._

I checked my watch. Sure enough, it was _8:00 a.m. _I over-swam _again. _I was supposed to be back on the train already. I swam to shore as fast I could, but by the time I got there it had already left. The next one wouldn't arrive until 8:30. Annabeth's words rang into my mind, "_DON'T BE LATE!" _Oops. On the way back I shifted in my seat uncomfortably; one, because my back was still hurting, especially in my vulnerable spot, and two, I was awaiting the lecture that Annabeth was bound to give me. Still twenty minutes away, I heard my phone buzz. It was Annabeth. One minute after nine and she already wanted to know where I was. Reluctantly, I answered.

"Where are you?" A stern cold voice said. For some reason, I didn't know how to answer. _Should I lie or tell the truth? This is Annabeth we're talking about, she's too smart to be lied to. Yeah, but she'll kill me if I don't give a reasonable answer!_ Instead, all that came out was,

"Uh, duh." I heard her huff in utter disbelief.

"I told you _not_ to be late, and what do you? The exact opposite of what I say! Can't you listen to me for once, Percy? Gods I swear-" Tired of hearing her already, I finally replied,

"Yeah yeah whatever it's your fault for making us work on a freaking Saturday morning, Wise Girl. Anyway, I'm coming now. Where did you say you lived again?" After a slight moment of silence, I got a neutral reply,

"I said I lived on Wisdom Lane. You can't miss it. It's the only apartment complex there." _Wisdom Lane, why does that sound so familiar?_

"I'll be there in twenty minutes. See you there." I hung up before she got the chance to say anything else. I got off the train and had to take the bus to the street that Annabeth was talking about, _Wisdom Lane. _It came to a halt, and the doors opened. Revealing the fanciest apartment building I've ever seen, but also one that I already knew of.

The complex was tall, and _way _bigger than my cheap old apartment building. It looked like a Greek architectural monument. The sign on the outside read _Mount Olympus Luxury Apartments. _Thalia's dad, Mr. Zeus, owns this building. We used to hang out here too, until the a_ccident _happened.

_*Flashback*_

_I was seven years old, having a play date with one of my best friends and cousins, Thalia. We were in the penthouse of her dad's apartment building, where they lived. Her four year old brother, Jason, was taking his afternoon nap on the couch. Thalia was eight years old. We were making posters on the living room floor because we were bored. We already played elevator tag and watched a bunch of movies. My mom was at work, so I had to stay put until she picked me up. There was a bunch of supplies on the floor; markers, crayons, tape, pictures, paper, stickers, and even a stapler. We were making a mess, but it didn't matter because the maids would clean it up. Mr. Zeus was in his office, sounding like he was having an argument with someone. After the yelling finally stopped, he came into the living room with a briefcase, like he was going somewhere. He crouched beside us, rubbing his temples as if he were stressed. I always thought he wore the coolest suits and ties. Today he was wearing a white suit with a dark blue tie that had lightning bolts on them. It was my favorite one. He also had long hair. _

"_Thalia, Percy. I need you to listen to me." His deep voice caught our attention and we looked up to him. "I have to go meet Hermes," Hermes was Zeus's assistant. "Apparently, there's an important package that is missing. I should only be gone for fifteen minutes, but in the meantime, do you think you are capable of handling yourselves?" We nodded slowly, trying to comprehend what he was saying. He was going to leave us alone. At home, with no one else. I shivered at the thought. I've never been at home alone before. Then I turned to Thalia, and she stayed as cool as a cucumber; a little excited, even._

"_Okay daddy. We'll be good." She said and continued to work on her poster. I just nodded in agreement. Zeus seemed satisfied with her answer, and began to stand up. He kissed Thalia on her forehead while heading for the door. _

"_Alright then. Do NOT to turn on the stoves or answer the door, and make sure you keep an eye on Jason if he wakes up."_

"_Okay." We said simultaneously. I heard the door shut and lock. I was almost done with my poster. It was a drawing of the bottom of the sea, with a treasure chest and an underwater city I called "Atlantis". Thalia's poster had a bunch of pictures of bands that she liked, including ACDC. _

"_I can't believe your dad left us alone." I said suddenly. She shrugged, putting her sharpie down. _

"_Whatever. We're not alone, there's just no adults telling us what to do. Isn't that great!" I nodded uneasily. I turned to Jason, who was still silently napping in the corner. _

"_Oh, I remember! I have to show you something." She grabbed my arm to help me get up._

"_What is it?"_

"_It's this hilarious video of this guy-"I wasn't listening to anything else after that, but I liked watching YouTube videos, so I followed her to her room. She shut the door, and we began watching one video after the other._

_**Third Person POV**_

_Jason had just woken up from his nap. He was refreshed and ready to play, except there was no one around. It was really quiet. Jason stumbled over to his dad's office. He wasn't there. Then he walked to his bedroom. He wasn't there either. His house was really big, so he could be anywhere. Jason gave up and wondered where Thalia and Percy were. He was going to look for them too, but then he noticed art supplies on the living room floor. _

"_Cool!" Jason said, and he sat down and began to play with the art supplies. He was going to draw with them, but then he saw something he's never seen before. It was a stapler. Jason had never seen this in his preschool classroom before. He grabbed the mysterious item, and began to analyze it with his small hands. He noticed that when he pressed it, the stapler would open and close, like how a crocodile would open and shut its jaw. Jason tried to press the object all the way down, but he was too weak. The stapler would reopen its jaw. He tried again, and again. No luck. Finally, giving it his final effort, he decided to use both of his hands to try and close it. By doing this, he brought the stapler close to his face, a little too close. The stapler clicked, and somehow got stuck on Jason's upper lip, and he cried in pain._

_**Percy's POV**_

_Thalia and I were watching another hilarious video. It was so funny, that I laughed myself out of my seat. Then Thalia doubled over, laughing at me. We were laughing so hard, but we were interrupted by a sudden scream. It sounded like Jason. I looked at her, and her face immediately went from amusement, to worry. We both bolted downstairs, and found Jason, with a stapler on his mouth. _

"_Oh. My. Gods." Thalia gaped. "Jason, what the heck happened!" She rushed over to her brother, who was clearly in pain and could only answer by crying. We didn't know what to do. We tried to pull the stapler out, but that just made him cry more. His crying made us panic. Thalia put her face in her hands._

"_My dad is going to kill us." As if on cue, we heard the door open. I will never forget the look of shock and anger that appeared in Mr. Zeus's eyes. He was able to pull the stapler out, and used tweezers to get the staple from his upper lip. He was bleeding, and had to be taken to the hospital. After we got there, Dr. Apollo only needed to stitch Jason once, and said it should heal okay. When we arrived home, we were immediately scolded. Seeing Zeus mad was probably the most terrifying moment of my life. Even Thalia was scared, and Thalia was never scared. She also looked sad. She hated making her father upset. He was only able to yell at us briefly, when my mom finally came to pick me up. Uh oh. Zeus told her everything that happened, and then my mom got mad. Let me correct myself, seeing my MOM mad was the most terrifying moment in my life. She was even angrier than Mr. Zeus, and that was saying something. It was really hard to get my mom angry, but when she did, I swear it's like a nuclear bomb going off. I was grounded for two weeks. I wasn't allowed to go over to Thalia's anymore. Only because Mr. Zeus had to leave the penthouse more often, and he didn't exactly "trust" us to be alone anymore. I haven't been there since._

_*Back to reality*_

So yeah, this place doesn't exactly bring back the best of memories. I wonder if Thalia still lives here, she probably does. I could find her later. I entered the building and immediately felt awkward. This place has changed since I last visited. In the lobby, people were dressed up in fancy suits and ball gown dresses. The décor was phenomenal. It still had the Greek architectural look to it, but even greater. There were Greek statues placed everywhere. The ceiling was high, with several chandeliers on them. Obviously, anyone who lived here was rich. I felt really bad ruining the vibe by wearing a wetsuit and carrying a surfboard. Hopefully no one will notice?

No such luck. My flip-flops made loud click-clacking noises on the glossy floor. I walked over to the front desk. The guy, gave me a funny and amused look, which I didn't enjoy very much. His nametag read "Charon". I wasn't exactly sure how to pronounce that.

"Um, hi, Charon?" I said pronouncing the "SH" sound. His face gave me an annoyed look, signaling that I was wrong.

"No lad, it's not "SHARON", it's "CHARON". Say it with me, CARE-ON." He sounded like he had a weird British accent.

"Charon." I say pronouncing it correctly this time.

"Good, now what do you need lad? Are you lost? California is down that way." He pointed west, and this time I gave him an annoyed look.

"No. I'm not lost, thank you. I'm here to see Annabeth Chase? We're working on a project together." His face turned more serious this time.

"Oh, right, Ms. Chase. I do know of her." He called began calling her apartment, and someone answered.

"Yes, Ms. Chase? I have a young, um, lad here. Would you like me to send him up?" After a muffled reply, he put the phone down.

"She gives you permission to enter. The Chase residence lives in apartment 611."

"Thanks." I mumble. Avoiding the stares of others, I hurry to the gold elevator and step inside. As I remember, the elevator buttons are different. The floors go from highest to lowest, instead of lowest to highest like most elevators. For example, Thalia lived on the top floor, which would normally be floor 12, but it was actually called the first floor. I press the middle button, floor 6, and began to ascend while listening to classical music. I stepped out of the elevator and found Annabeth's apartment. I glanced at my watch, it read _9:30. _I was exactly thirty minutes late. I just stood there, thinking of what she's going to do to me. I brought my hand up to knock on the grey door, but it swung open. I was greeted by a dirty look, and a confused one. She looked at my appearance, and scowled. I ruffled my messed-up, salty-dried hair with my free hand, and smiled sheepishly at her.

"Um, hi?" I was pulled inside by her fierce grip. She shut the door, and glared.

"So, you decided to ditch me for surfing?" Her intense eyes sparked with fire.

"No, I did not ditch you for surfing. I was in the middle of feeding the farm, when the cow began stomping on the chickens-" I wasn't able to finish my story, because I was kicked, ruthlessly where no guy should EVER be kicked. I fell down, dropping my surfboard and groaning in pain.

"You deserved that."

"Yeah, I-I know." She helped me get up.

"You're lucky my dad and stepmom aren't here." She picked up my surfboard and made it lean on the wall. "Ugh, Percy! You're getting sand everywhere." She began to push me upstairs.

"What are you doing?" Soon, I was standing in front of a bathroom. She went inside, and grabbed a towel. She shoved it on my chest.

"You are showering. Now." She pointed towards the bathroom.

"But I don't have any clothes!" She huffed and went into a room, which looked like a bedroom. She angrily began picking out some guy's clothes. She shoved them on me too.

"You can borrow my brother's. Now hurry up." Before I could reply, I was roughly shoved in the bathroom, and I heard the door shut, along with angry footsteps fading away. This girl had no mercy on guys whatsoever. I guess she had a brother, so that made sense. I started showering, and began zoning out in the hot water. My cuts looked better, they were almost healed. My back felt better too, except not in that one spot. I didn't know if that will ever be the same. After I was done, I put on the clothes that she gave me. They were a little big, but not too bad. The outfit was also really, _sophisticated. _It was a dress shirt with khaki shorts; something I would _never _wear in public. I sighed and looked at my hair, which was no longer messed up, instead matted down and wet. It almost looked, _neat._ I didn't like that. I used my hands to mess it all up, like how it was before. Normally, my mom wouldn't let me leave the house without it looking at least a _little_ presentable. Meaning swooped to one side and not all over the place, but even she knew how hard it was to make it cooperate. It always looked like I came back from a windy walk from the beach. I liked it that way though.

I walked out of the bathroom, and was immediately startled by a pair of grey eyes.

"Do you know how _long _you shower?" She asked annoyingly.

"No, why?"

"You were in there for thirty minutes." She stated, pointing at my watch. I glanced at it and sure enough, it read _10:00 a.m. _

"So?" Taking long showers was completely normal for me. Like I said, I love the water. Apparently, she did not and threw her hands in the air. She grabbed my arm and began dragging me away from the bathroom, towards another room that looked like her bedroom. It was huge. It was all grey, and she had an awesome view of the empire state building. I noticed blueprints and architectural designs on the walls. She had a big bookcase, with, well, books I never wanted to read. There was something that caught my eye. It was a photograph on her bedside table. It was a picture of her, and she looked like she was around six or seven years old. Next to her was another boy, a few years older that had blonde hair and grey eyes like she did. Above them, there was a man with glasses and a laboratory coat, probably her dad. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Then, beside him, there was a woman. She looked very intelligent. She had grey eyes, with her hands on Annabeth's shoulders. They all looked so happy. I'm not exactly sure, but it looked like they were standing in front of the Parthenon; in Greece, I think?

On her desk, a bunch of supplies were already set up neatly. Paint pens, pictures, and a poster. I gulped, remembering the flashback I had earlier.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" She rolled her eyes, and mumbled something that sounded like _idiot. _I dismissed that hurtful side comment this time.

"Well, Mrs. Davidson said we had to do our project on the coral reefs." I perked up a little.

"Okay." We began working on the poster. She was writing the title, because I had terrible handwriting. Basically, I pretty much handed her the supplies, and she was working on the poster herself. I felt like I was the nurse, and she was the doctor. I grimaced at the thought. She was also reciting facts that she was writing down, which was kind of annoying. She kept saying one after the other, and I was just nodding. Then all the sudden she stopped. She looked like she was deep in thought, trying to figure out what else to write down.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"I can't think of anything else to say. Mrs. Davidson said we had to write down ten facts, but we only have nine." She began to think again. After a while, I tried to think of something to help. My brain finally came alive to give me ideas.

"You can say that some corals are soft." She looked at me curiously.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Soft coral is made of limestone crystals, so they're not hard like stone." She looked at me suspiciously.

"Percy, if you know things like that, then why do you act so dumb all the time?" Okay, that hurt. She turned away from me and began writing down the fact I told her about. I really irritated her today, and I felt bad about it. I showed up at her apartment, with a wetsuit and a surfboard. I sat on the edge her bed.

"Wow, you must really hate me." I mumbled to myself.

"What?" She turned around to look at me, but I looked down, and scolded myself for saying it too loud.

"Nothing." She walked over and sat on the bed with me.

"No, you said something. What was it?" She asked stubbornly. I finally had enough courage to look her in the eye.

"You hate me. I don't blame you. I'm like your polar opposite. You're smart, I'm not. You're popular, I'm not. I understand, I would hate me too." She sighed and stood up.

"Percy, I don't _hate _you. I've never hated you. You just _really _annoy me sometimes. You know? You're so smart, but you act so dumb. Sometimes, I think you do it just to annoy me." I was surprised with her answer, but I stood my ground.

"Well, I don't." I stood up, and she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry okay? What I said was mean." Woah, did Annabeth Chase just _apologize?_

"It's fine." Ignoring the comment in my head. She took her hand off of my shoulder.

"Good. Now, can you help me with this? I need help gluing the pictures on."

"Sure." I smiled, so did she. It was a relief to know that she didn't hate my guts like I though she did, and maybe I didn't hate her either.

Maybe I liked her.


	8. chapter eight

Annabeth and I were almost done with our project. We didn't talk a lot, so I thought I'd try to strike up a conversation.

"So, um, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" She said without looking up.

"Whose clothes are these?" I pinched the shirt I was wearing. She chuckled, and continued to work.

"They're my older brother's. His name is Malcolm, he's in high school. Why? Have you ever worn nice clothes before?" _No. _I wanted to reply.

"Just wondering." I said instead. We continued to work in silence. I added another picture of a coral reef.

"So, is he a freshman?" She shook her head.

"No, sophomore. He's on the honor roll. And he's president of the math and debate team." She said proudly.

"Cool. Do you have any other siblings?" She grimaced. _Oops, wrong question to ask._

"Well, yeah. I have two stepbrothers, Matthew and Bobby. They're really annoying."

"How old are they?" I asked on reflex.

"They're both five."

"What does your dad do?" She smiled proudly again.

"He's an archaeologist. He's researching at the Coliseum in Rome right now."

"And what about your-" Oops, her mom is dead, and I'm guessing she doesn't like her stepmom very much. I tried to save my slip-up, but it was too late.

"My stepmother? She does nothing." She said with a cold, harsh expression. "Absolutely nothing. But apparently, that's called being a 'stay at home mom'. My real mom? She was way better. She was the smartest person I've ever met." Annabeth's words started to carry off. It was still a touchy subject for her, so I decided to leave it alone. I was planning on working in silence again, until she said,

"What about your family?" I was a little surprised by the question.

"Er, what?" I asked flustered. She rolled her eyes.

"Your family. What are they like?" She sat on the desk, and began to watch me work instead.

"Well, I never knew my dad. He died before I was born." I looked at her and she nodded in understanding.

"In the Navy. Right, I remember."

I nodded. "My stepfather's name is Gabe." I said quickly to kick him out of the way. "And my mom works at a candy store. She's the nicest person I've ever met." I smiled broadly.

"How's your arm?" She asked suddenly.

I went into defense mode, "Um, m-my what?" She stood up from the desk.

"Percy, first of all, I already know. So there's no point in hiding it anymore." I sighed with disappointment.

"Second, I'm not going to tell anyone." I was happy with that answer. I was going to thank her, but she continued to add on,

"_If, _you promise not do to it anymore."

"Wh-why not?" I asked. She sighed and began to roll up my sleeve. I didn't pull away this time.

"Percy, you're only hurting yourself by doing this." She said while studying cuts again. "Just promise you won't do it anymore."

"But-" I began to reply, but her face was determined. I wasn't getting out of this one.

"Fine. I promise." I said. I didn't see what the big deal was. I wasn't going to die from doing it, right?

"Good. Now hang on for a sec." She let go of my arm and started to search around her room. She dragged something from underneath her bed. It looked like a first-aid kit. I laughed.

"You keep a first-aid kit in your _room?" _

"Shut up!" She growled back. I continued to laugh, while she was digging for something specific. Finally, she found what she was looking for.

"What is that?" I looked at the jar she was holding. It had some kind of gold liquid in it.

"My dad calls it 'nectar', but it's just like healing cream. He invented it. Put some on your arm, but not a lot. Otherwise, your skin might burn up from irritation." _Good to know, _I thought as she handed me the liquid. I dabbed a tiny bit on my finger, and smoothed it over my arm. Instantly, I felt a warm sensation. After a few seconds, the cuts were already fading away, not leaving any scars behind.

"Wow, this stuff is awesome!" I said while handing her back the jar.

"Yeah, I know." She put the first-aid kit away along with the nectar. We were adding the finishing touches, when we ran out of glue.

"Hold on, I think we have more downstairs." Annabeth said as she left the room. I heard my phone buzz. It was a text from Nico.

_**NICO: **__Hey Perce! What's up? Anyway, me, Grover, &amp; Thalia r going 2 the mall! Wanna come? _

I was a little surprised that Thalia was coming. Of course I wanted to go, so I texted him back.

_**ME: **__Hey Nico. Nothin much, jst working on a project. What time r u guys going 2 the mall? _

It only took a few seconds for him to respond.

_**NICO:**__ Like 12ish?___

I looked at my watch, it read _11:40, _but Annabeth and I were almost done. The mall was only a mile away.

_**ME: **__K, I'll b there_

I slipped my phone back into my pocket just as Annabeth came back with the glue. It took a few more minutes to put everything else on, and we were finished.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Yes it was." I said automatically. Annabeth scoffed. We did do a pretty good job. The poster was nicely decorated and the pictures were neatly in place.

"Well, I have to go." I began to search for my things.

"Where are you going?" She replied curiously. Well, there's no point lying to her. She'll probably find out anyway.

"Nico, Grover, and Thalia invited me to the mall. I have to meet them soon." I swung my backpack over my shoulder.

"Can I come?" That kind of threw me off. Did I want Annabeth to come? I wasn't sure. I knew she didn't hate me, but that doesn't mean we got along.

"Are you sure? Nico and Grover are going to be there." I said cautiously.

"Well, you said Thalia was going, right?" She folded her arms.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Okay, then let's go." She began packing up her own stuff and I shrugged. We walked out of her apartment with our backpacks. I decided to come back and get my surfboard later. We strolled out of the lobby and I tried to wave for a cab, but Annabeth stopped me.

"Percy, come on. It's only a mile away. Can't we just walk?" She gestured towards the sidewalk, but I frowned.

"Why?" She rolled her eyes.

"To save money? Duh."

"Ugh, fine." I said and we began walking. Annabeth wasn't saying anything, so I decided to talk to her again.

"So, why do you hate your stepmom so much?" She clenched her jaw. Ugh! Stupid question, stupid ADHD.

"Because." She started to walk ahead of me, but I stayed persistent.

"Because why?" She scowled and walked even faster.

"Because, she hates me, and I hate her."

"There has to be a better explanation than that." I was practically jogging to keep up with her now.

"I just do, okay!" We came up to a street light. She slammed the crosswalk button really hard with the side of her fist. She didn't even wince in pain. I saw the expression on her face; which was angry, upset, and violent looking, like she wanted to punch someone. I really didn't want to be that someone. People were giving me concerned looks, as if they were saying "_control your friend, please, before she hurts us." _

We were still waiting to cross. I tried as gently as I could to put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder. Bad Idea. She grabbed my arm, and judo threw me.

Right on the pavement.

With my bad back.

With everyone watching us.

The tourists who were walking by thought it was a show, and took pictures.

She didn't stop there. She put her knee on my chest and placed her forearm across my neck. Her eyes were forming a tornado. The only thing I could do, was give her my best "_please don't kill me right now with all these people watching and my back is killing me so can you please get up PLEASE" _face. I think it worked, and she was finally aware of her surroundings. She got off of me slowly. She shyly waved to the people who were crowded around us. She offered her hand to me, which I took. My back was in bad shape again. I started limp-walking across the street. Annabeth finally sensed that something was wrong and helped me get all the way across. I put an arm around her shoulder, and she helped me to the nearest park bench. We sat down in relief. Annabeth was red in the face, probably embarrassed of what she had just done. I couldn't have been much better. I just got beaten up by a _girl _in front of complete strangers.

"Are you okay?" She said while panting. I tried moving my back around. It didn't feel as bad as the first time.

"I'm fine. My back just hurts." I winced when I felt the electric sparks from my weak spot. Annabeth still looked concerned.

"Where?" She asked curiously.

"The small of my back." I told her. She lifted her hand, and cautiously placed it on my lower back, underneath my shirt. My skin tingled, but I don't think it was from my weak spot.

"Here?" She asked. I shook my head. I held her hand and moved it to the worse spot on my back. I felt the electric sparks again, except this time they went throughout my entire body. She must have felt them too, because she quickly pulled away. She was even redder than she was before.

"Er-, well, um, do you want some Advil?" She asked, reaching for her grey backpack.

"No, s'okay. I feel better now." I said while standing up. I wasn't lying. My back _did _feel a lot better for some reason. We continued to walk slowly down the street.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that by the way." Annabeth said, tucking a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. I just shrugged.

"Look," she said while taking a deep breath. "after my mom died when I just turned seven-" I put my hands up, gesturing for her to stop.

"Annabeth, you really don't have to-"

"No, it's okay. I think I want to." I nodded, and continued listening to the story.

"Anyway, when my mom died after I just turned seven, my whole family was upset. We missed her. A lot. I thought it would stay that way. I thought it would be just the three of us; me, my brother, and my dad. And it was supposed to s_tay _that way. But then my dad came along and ruined everything."

I could hear the bitterness in her voice. She was mad about her dad moving on. I guess I could relate. I didn't like it when my mom married Gabe, but that was for _other _reasons.

"He waited a _month. _One month. And all of the sudden, he tells us he's getting remarried, and starting a new family. He even brought out the other woman, who we've _never _met before. It was just too much to handle all at once. My brother was in shock, and locked himself in his room. I on the other hand, thought I had a better plan."

"What did you do?" I asked curiously.

"I decided to run away." My eyes widened. Annabeth didn't seem like the runaway type.

"Really?"

"Yeah." She laughed half-heartedly. "It was pretty stupid now that I think about it. I packed way too many clothes, and not enough food or water. So I didn't eat for a week." I felt guilty for making her tell me this.

"Then what?"

"Well, Thalia found me behind a box in an alleyway. And she convinced me to go back."

"Thalia did that?"

"Yep. Right place, right time I guess. She also bought me a cheeseburger afterwards, which tasted _amazing. _I made up with my dad and we happened to move into Thalia's apartment building."

"No wonder you guys are so close." Annabeth smiled.

"We've been best friends ever since."

We were waiting to walk cross the street to the mall. I looked _both _ways, and I swore I saw no cars coming by. I decided to take a chance, so I took three steps forward, only to be roughly pulled back by some force. I stumbled back on the sidewalk, and I saw a cab going a hundred miles an hour pass right in front of me.

"Stupid kid!" The grumpy cab driver yelled as he sped off.

"I saved your life. You're welcome." Annabeth said proudly. I scoffed, and looked for my chance to cross again. I felt Annabeth grab my hand. I looked at her embarrassingly.

"What are you doing?" She looked back at me with an annoyed expression.

"Making sure you don't get killed, dummy."

"Oh. Oh right." I walked across the street, with Annabeth holding my hand. We went into the mall, and it was packed, like every Saturday. I could already smell the sweet aromas from the food court. All of the working we did today made me hungry.

"You want some food?" I asked Annabeth. She shrugged.

"Sure." We walked to the center of the mall where the food court was. Annabeth studied her options carefully, and I rolled my eyes.

"What are you getting?" I only thought about it for a few seconds.

"Cheeseburgers?" I suggested. She nodded in agreement and we waited in line. We grabbed our food and sat down at a table. Annabeth and I were eating and talking, and I got another text from Nico.

_**NICO: **__Hey, where are you guys?___ Huh, I completely forgot of why Annabeth and I were here in the first place.

_**ME**_**:** _We're at Aunty Em's Famous Burgers, in the food court_. Annabeth sipped her drink.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"It's just Nico."

"Is he that shy kid?"

"Yep."

"Oh." I looked at my phone again.

_**NICO: **__Ok, we're coming.___

"Why is he so shy?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know. He's always been like that." I answered simply.

"And who's Grover?"

"Grover looks older, but he's in our grade. He's dark-skinned, and walks funny. But he's really nice." A flash of realization appeared on her face.

"Oh, right. He's the guy who walks like a goat." I laughed a little.

"Yep, that's him." This time, Annabeth got a text. At first, I thought it was from Thalia, but Annabeth's face told a different story. When she looked at the text, her cheeks turned scarlet. _It must be from Luke._ She quickly replied, and put her phone away. She sipped her Coke again while looking at the floor awkwardly.

"So, how's Luke?" It looked like she was going to spit her drink out (which would've had me rolling around on the floor laughing hysterically), but she managed to painfully swallow it down instead.

"Wh-what?" She blushed deeper.

"You know what I asked." I smiled devilishly before taking another bite of my cheeseburger. She started to get mad now.

"He's _fine. _Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, well, I know how much you have a _crush _on him and all. I just wanted to see how things were going between the two of you." I said innocently.

"I do _not _have a crush on Luke." She said firmly.

"Then how did you get the bad sunburn?" She glared at me hard, and I remembered my mom's advice, to smile instead of glaring back. So I gave her the famous Percy Jackson lopsided grin. She looked at me weirdly.

"Why are you _smiling?" _

"Why not?" I saw a range of mixed emotions appear on her face. First, she looked confused, then she softened, then she looked confused again, and finally she expressed her frustration.

"Ugh! You're such a-"

"Hey guys! We finally found you." Annabeth was cut off by Grover who slid in next to me. Nico followed him and waved awkwardly at Annabeth. He slid in next to Grover. Thalia made a loud entrance, with her black leather jacket and black combat boots. I could tell Nico had a hard time not staring. She sat on the opposite side next to Annabeth, and nudged her.

"_So, _how was working with Kelp Head over here."

"Hey!" I protested, but she waved me off.

"Oh, not as bad as I thought. Well, _at first _it was." Before I could stop her, Annabeth told the story of me showing up with a wetsuit and surfboard, like I was ready to "catch some waves", at her place. As she told the story, Thalia was laughing, and Nico and Grover were snickering. I tried to deny it,

"I did not! She's lying!" That was pretty stupid of me, because this just made everyone laugh harder. Nico was full out laughing (which was a big deal for him), Grover was wiping tears from his eyes, and Thalia was chuckling in the crook of her arm. I didn't see what was so funny.

"Kelp Head, that is_ so _you. No one on the face of this planet would do that, except you. You are so clueless sometimes, I swear-"

"Okay guys, I think he's had enough." Grover said, trying to control his laughter. "I'm Grover, by the way. Percy's not-clueless best friend." Grover stuck out his hand, I face-palmed.

"I'm Annabeth. Nice to meet you, Percy's not-clueless best friend." She smirked at me. I stuck out my tongue at her.

"_Anyway, _you guys wanna catch a movie?" Thalia swung her leg out from the bench.

"Sure." We all said at the same time. All five of us rode the escalator together. Everyone was talking to each other, and it wasn't awkward at all. Nico was even opening up to Annabeth. We finally got to the third floor, where the movie theater was.

"Let's go see _Attack of Ashes_!" Thalia exclaimed as we were in line of the ticket booth. Nico got an ecstatic look on his face.

"I've been dying to see that! Have you seen _The Birth of the Bleeding and Burned_?"

"Duh, who hasn't? What about _Wicked Witch of the World_? Have you seen that?"

"That's from my favorite series! _The Curse of the Cannibal!"_

"Mine too!" Annabeth, Grover, and I, had horrified and confused looks on our faces. Nico always loved talking about horror movies, but if you add Thalia in the mix, it's a recipe for disaster.

"Well, um, youguys can go see that. The sane people in this group are going to see something else." Annabeth gestured to Grover and I, and we nodded vigorously.

"Suit yourself. Come on Nico." Thalia grabbed Nico's hand and ran into the theater with their tickets. I happened to catch Nico's blush when she did that.

"Well, what are _we _going to see?" Grover said. I looked at the movie board, and found my favorite movie of all time.

"_Finding Nemo 3D!" _I said excitedly. Annabeth gave me a confused look.

"What?"

"C'mon. Who doesn't love _Finding Nemo?" _Annabeth scoffed.

"We are not seeing _Finding Nemo 3D, _Percy. That movie is for kids." That was a big insult to me.

"Fine then, what do _you _want to see Wise Girl?" Grover laughed at my nickname. Annabeth scowled at me before replying.

"Well, there's this interesting documentary that's playing. It's about-"

"I vote _Finding Nemo." _Grover interrupted while raising his hand, obviously trying to avoid Annabeth's suggestion.

"That's two out of three, Wise Girl. You do the math." She folded her arms.

"_Fine. _We'll go see _Finding Nemo." _

"Yes!" I jumped up with excitement, and punched my fist in the air. Annabeth rolled her eyes to show her annoyance, but I saw a small smile appear on her face. We got our tickets to see the movie, and we entered the theater. It smelled like butter and junk food. We got our snacks and drinks, and took our seats in the very back. The movie was as good as I remembered, and even better in 3D. Grover and I were laughing at all of the puns, and Annabeth was laughing at us laughing at the puns. By the time we got out, Thalia and Nico were already waiting for us at a table.

"How was the death movie?" I asked as I sat down.

They looked at me. "It wasn't just a death movie Kelp Face." Thalia said.

"Did someone die?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, okay, yeah. Thousands actually, but you guys should've seen it! People were literally suffocating on their own ancestors ashes, and-"

"Alright! I've heard enough." I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Anyway, what did you guys see?"

"Percy wanted to go see _Finding Nemo." _Annabeth said with a mocking tone.

"Doesn't surprise me one bit." Nico said while chuckling.

Thalia agreed, "Me neither."

"At least _I _didn't want to watch a boring documentary!" Annabeth scowled at me.

"It's not boring! It's interesting!"

"Uh-huh. It's only interesting to you because you're a nerd, Wise Girl." Everyone laughed, myself included. She glared daggers at me, and I smiled again.

"Ugh! You're such, you're such a…"

"What? What am I Wise Girl?" I challenged. She threw her hands in the air.

"You're such a _Seaweed Brain!" _ Threw were a few moments of absolute silence, no one knowing exactly how to react. I gladly broke the tension, by laughing so hard that I fell to the floor. I wrapped my hands around my stomach and started rolling around, totally losing it in front of everyone, who seemed to be on the right page as I was. They were laughing almost as hard as me. All of their faces turned red from laughter. Annabeth's face was red too, but from embarrassment. I couldn't control my hysteria, as I continued to roll around. _Seaweed Brain?! WHO COMES UP WITH SEAWEED BRAIN?! _Everyone was dying from my reaction. Annabeth finally started kicking me really hard on the floor, to make me feel pain instead of enjoyment, and it worked. I had to get out of my extremely amused state to stand up. With the exception of Annabeth who had her arms crossed glaring at everybody, we were trying so hard to contain our laughter. 

"Sea-, Seaweed Brain? I didn't, I didn't see hear Dory say that in the movie." One of my hands was holding onto my side, because it hurt from laughing so hard. The noise level decreased as we started to take deep breathes instead.

"Yeah yeah laugh it up! It makes perfect sense. You showed up at MY apartment with a wetsuit and a surfboard, you only seem to know things that involve the ocean, and you just made us watch _Finding Nemo. _You're a Seaweed Brain!" I wasn't laughing anymore. My face turned serious, while everyone else continued to laugh away.

"She's got a point dude." Grover said while patting me on the back.

"A HUGE point." Nico agreed.

Thalia stopped laughing for a bit. "It's official. Percy Jackson, you are a Seaweed Brain."

"Whatever. You guys are the worst." I started walking out of the theater with everyone trailing a ways behind me. They still didn't have the decency to control themselves. _Sheesh, it's not funny anymore! _

"Hey, let's go to the arcade." I suggested, trying desperately to change the topic.

"Okay." They all said. We finally approached _The Lotus Arcade. _When we entered, I heard loud clanking noises from the machines. Then I saw my favorite game, _Chariot Racers Five. _Forgetting about everyone else, I quickly ran to it before someone took the spot. I already had a bunch of quarters in my pocket. I put two in, and saw someone sit next to me. Of course, it was Annabeth.

"Hey _Seaweed Brain. _You like this game too? I'll race you." She put in two quarters of her own in the other machine.

"I never lose at this game, so don't bother wasting your money." I was still very annoyed at her new nickname for me. It was actually really insulting. My brain was _not _made out of seaweed.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Well neither do _I." _She pressed the "START" button, and I saw a message appear on my screen. _"This opponent wants to challenge you. Accept or Decline?" _I gladly pressed "Accept", and gave her a challenging smirk. She huffed at my cockiness. This game was just like car racing, except there wasn't a steering wheel in front of you. Instead, there was a rope that you hold on to, and you whip it as if you were riding a real horse.

Annabeth and I were setting up for the game. The game said _"STEP ONE: Pick your horses". _I naturally chose two jet black ones. _"STEP TWO: Choose you chariot". _After a while, I finally decided on a blue-green one that had wave designs on it. It looked pretty cool. _"FINAL STEP: Name your horses." _I didn't really know what to name them, so I just put the first thing that came to mind.

All of the sudden, Annabeth started to laugh. "You named your horses _Bob _and _Bessie?" _

I looked at her confusedly. "So what?"

"Nothing, just remind me never to get you a pet. Otherwise, you'll probably name-abuse it."

"For your information, I do great with animals."

"That's because you act like one."

"Hey!" She laughed harder, and I gripped the reins tighter. I s_o _wanted to beat her.

"Ready to lose, Owl Head?"

She scowled. "Bring it on, Coral Breath." We glared at each other one more time before turning back to our machines.

_3….2….1…. GO! _

Annabeth got the early lead, but I managed to stay right behind her. At one point, I had taken the lead. I was making my way towards the finish in first place, until all of the sudden, my chariot slows down.

_Your chariot wheels have been slashed. GAME OVER._

I glared hard at Annabeth who ended up winning the race.

"Cheater!" I exclaimed.

"I did not cheat. I simply used my sword to destroy your tires." I was shocked that Annabeth knew that cheat, I thought I was the only one who used cheats.

"Rematch. Best two out of three."

"You are so on." So we raced again. This time, I purposely let Annabeth lead the entire way, until we were near the finish. I steered my horses so that I was right behind her. Then I had them tip Annabeth's chariot from the side. I watched as her chariot went erratic; suddenly drifting all the way to the right. Her horses went wild as the chariot took an unexpected turn. Both the chariot and the horses tipped completely. I didn't see too much after that, as I was busy winning the race.

Annabeth looked at me with a horrified expression on her face. "Now _that_ was cheating."

I gave her the same innocent look she gave me. "I did not cheat. I simply used my horses to tip your chariot over." If I wasn't so amused, I would have shrunken away under her death stare.

"Fine, if you want to play dirty, then so be it. Bring it on Seaweed Brain."

So I did. I have to admit, in the third game there was a lot of cursing, swearing, yelling, taunting, and most of all, cheating. I did everything I could to make sure she didn't beat me, but she ended up winning anyways.

"I win." She said as she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Best three out of five." I demanded.

"Deal."

I won the next two games to win the best out of five. Annabeth's cockiness was gone now as she looked at me with determination.

"Best five out of nine." She proposed. I was going to say no, but then I saw that our friends were pretty busy. Nico and Thalia were playing a shooting game, of course, and Grover was playing one of those dancing games. He was sucking at it too. A bunch of people were crowded around him, and laughing while he was dancing to _Poker Face _by Lady Gaga, but he didn't care.

I finally said, "Why not?" So we played several times after that, each of us winning every other game. It seemed like only minutes before our friends came up behind us.

"Hey guys, Grover wants to go to the pet store. Are you almost done?" I'm not sure whose voice it was, because we were still in the middle of a game.

"Could you guys come back later? We're kinda busy." My chariot took a sharp right. I heard someone scoff behind me; probably Thalia.

"Fine. See you guys in a bit." I heard them leave, not that I cared. I was only focused on beating Annabeth. After many games later, I only had two quarters left.

"These are my last two. Winner takes all?"

"Sure, Seaweed Brain." I glared at her as she smirked.

"Will you stop calling me that?"

She shook her head. "Nope." I rolled my eyes. I was just about to put in the quarters, when our friends walked behind us again.

"You guys are still playing that?" Grover said as he took a bite into a churro.

"So?"

"We've been gone for over an hour. Nico and I even went into _Hot Topic_." Thalia and Nico raised their bags, which were probably filled with weird clothes and stuff. I couldn't believe that Annabeth and I were playing this for over an _hour. _It only felt like minutes to me.

"Truce?" I suggested, and I put my hand out for her to shake. She smiled a little bit.

"Sure." Right when she was about to shake my hand, I pulled it away, and stuck out my tongue

"I win!" I got out from the seat and bolted out of the arcade, knowing that she was going to kill me any second.

"Seaweed Brain!" I heard her yell. "I'm going to kill you!"

Like I said before, I wasn't very fast. So I knew I didn't have much time before she caught up to me. I ran into a few innocent shoppers here and there, and turned a corner. I didn't exactly know where I was, so I ran into the nearest store I saw, which happened to be a _Victoria's Secret. _Yes, I know. That was really stupid of me. The women in the store gave me confused looks as I ran inside. The smell in here made me want to gag. Also, the sight of bras and underwear made me very uncomfortable. I just hoped that Annabeth didn't find me in here. I heard footsteps of someone running and I panicked. My ADHD kicked in and told me to hide, so I hid behind a clothes rack. It happened to cover most of my body. I peeked through the clothes rack and saw a girl with converse high tops sprinting past the store. I thought I was in the clear, but of course not. These high tops backed up all of the sudden and faced me, pointing directly towards the store. They slowly made their way inside, and all of the sudden this girl stood right in front of where I was hiding. _Well, crap….._

I saw bright lights, and my first instinct was to cover my face to protect myself. This person, Annabeth, found where I was hiding. I expected her to immediately start hitting me.

"Say cheese, Seaweed Brain."

"What?" I saw a flash of light. Then I looked past her and saw Nico, Grover, and Thalia who were staring at me through the window. Then they began to crack up, pointing and laughing at me. _What's so funny? _I wondered. Then it hit me. I wasn't just hiding behind a rack of clothes; I was hiding behind a giant rack of _bras. _I blushed horribly as Annabeth and my friends continued to laugh hysterically. I quickly jumped out of the bras and dusted myself off in disgust. Annabeth was still laughing really hard with her phone in her hand. She had just taken a picture of me in a rack of overly-sized bras, so I don't blame her.

"You better not send that to anyone." I threatened.

"Why not?" She answered in between breaths. Then she showed me the picture. It was even worse than I thought. There was me in the middle with a horrified expression on my face, with a bunch of colorful bras on both of my sides. I clenched my teeth and she laughed even harder. Then I remembered _my _picture of her earlier in the week. I smiled devilishly as I walked away from her. I got out of that place and turned to my friends who were still laughing at me.

"What's wrong Kelp Head? Didn't find a big enough size?" This just made matters worse as everyone howled with even more laughter. I clenched both of my fists and resisted every urge in my body to hit my cousin. Grover momentarily came out of his state of amusement to add,

"Maybe they didn't have a blue one he liked?" Great. This was even worse than the first time Annabeth called me Seaweed Brain. Grover and Nico were rolling around on the floor like I did earlier, and Thalia wasn't much better. She was only holding herself up by the wall of the store. I didn't know if I could be any more embarrassed. People were giving them odd stares as they walked by, but heck, they didn't care. I felt Annabeth using me as support by grabbing my shoulder, I immediately shrugged her off.

"Don't worry Seaweed Brain. This picture's only gonna get, like, fifty likes on Instagram."

"Fifty!" I exclaimed with horror.

"Maybe over a hundred if I'm lucky." She smirked at me evilly.

"Whatever. You're just mad because I beat you at your favorite game."

"No I'm not!"

"Ann, there's no need to-" She shoved me.

"Do _not _call me Ann."

"Annie?"

"No."

"Beth?"

"No."

"Anniebeth?" That did it. She shoves me so hard, that I fall to the ground. Everyone chuckles, but I ignore it as I swiftly get back up.

"Fine." I raise my hands in surrender. We started to walk again. Thalia begins to say,

"Nice job on getting Percy to dress up, kiddo. Now if only we could do something about that hair-"

"Hey! There is absolutely nothing wrong with my-"

"Hey, Annie. What's up?" I'm cut off an unfamiliar voice. I look in front of me, and there's Luke Castellan. He was walking our direction with another kid I've never seen before. He was a little shorter than Luke, and also a little skinnier. He was probably in the same grade as him though. He had glossy black hair and friendly brown eyes. He looked like he could have been Japanese. He was wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt, and black Nike's. Next to him, Luke was wearing a light blue shirt and navy blue jeans. What really caught my attention though were his basketball shoes. They were white, with golden wings painted on the sides of them. He walked with his thumbs in his front pockets, seeming confident. The other kid was trying to follow his lead. I saw Annabeth face brighten and blush at the same time.

"H-hey Luke."

"Hey Thals." The new kid waved to Thalia, and she waved back.

"Hey Ethan." Thalia didn't stutter like Annabeth, but I saw a small blush appear on her cheeks. I also saw Nico's eyes darken at the sight of him. I chuckled at everyone's funny reactions. Then I noticed how neat their hair was compared to mine. It looked like they had just gotten their haircuts. This made me self-conscious as I began combing my fingers through my hair, trying to matt it down. I saw Grover raise his eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes and he just laughed.

"Well, see you Monday. Bye guys." Luke said. We waved goodbye as they walked past us. The girls looked behind them as they strode away. Nico's black eyes couldn't be any darker. Now I see what Grover was laughing about.

"So…" I began to say, "When _I _say Annie, I get shoved. But when _he_ says Annie…." I give an impression of her dreamy eyes whenever she looks at him. Of course, she shoves me again.

"Shut up."

I start laughing along with everyone else. "You guys know that Annabeth has this _huge _crush on Luke Castellan, right?" They snickered, and Annabeth started to blush.

"Yeah, I know. No matter how much she tries to deny it." Thalia said.

"Thalia!" Annabeth yelled.

"You like him kiddo, it's s_o _obvious."

"They would make a cute couple, wouldn't they?" Grover said.

"I think they would too, if he likes her back." Nico added on.

"I do _not _have a crush on Luke, you guys. I'm not going to say it again." This time, she gave everyone her death glare, and instantly their faces turned serious, except mine. I pulled out my phone, and scrolled to the_ adorable _picture of Luke and Annabeth. His arm is around her shoulder, and she's blushing madly. He wasn't even wearing a shirt. I gave my phone to all of them, grinning like a madman. They all began to laugh again, and Annabeth elbowed me in the side.

"What are they laughing about?"

After Thalia was done laughing, she said, "Are you still going to say you don't like him, kiddo?" She turned the phone around so that Annabeth could see the picture. Her face turned completely red. After overcoming her shock, she glared at me.

"You were _stalking _me?!" She said with horror.

"Who said I was stalking you?" I said innocently. "It doesn't matter anyways. We're even. I'll delete my picture of you, if you delete your picture of me. Deal?" Annabeth took this into consideration.

"I think I'm gonna put, #Lukabeth. What do you guys think?" This made everyone crack up more. Annabeth glared at me again.

"Fine. Deal, Seaweed Brain. Give me your phone." We gave each other our phones and deleted our humiliating pictures. We continued to walk for a while, when Thalia wanted to go into _Bob's Barber Shop, _for some reason. I didn't mind this too much, because I _really_ needed a haircut.

"Finally gonna get you're haircut, Kelp Head? It's about time." I rolled my eyes, but Thalia completely read my mind.

"I may as well. What about you?" For some reason, she began to smirk.

"Oh, something like that." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hey guys? We're going to bookstore across from here. We'll be back." Annabeth said. She began dragging Grover and Nico out of the shop, as they were not very enthusiastic about shopping for books. I waved at them.

"Have a lot of fun!" Nico and Grover glared at me once more before getting dragged out completely.

It only took around ten minutes to get my hair done. The hairdresser trimmed it really fast and combed it to one side. The rest of the time was spent on her talking, which kind of annoyed me. Then I sat down and waited for Thalia, who was taking forever. For some reason, they took her to the back, which made me suspicious. After what felt like hours, she finally came out. As she walked my way, I gaped at her. _What did she DO?!_

Thalia's haircut looked any other rebellious teenager's. Her hair was cut _very _short, and it was punk style. Not only that, she had _blue _highlights in it. I couldn't stop staring as she was finally in front of me.

"Well, what do you think Kelp-for-Brains?" Before I even had the chance to answer, our friends came back in the shop, all with the same expression I had when first I saw her.

Annabeth spoke up first. "Thalia! What did you do to your hair?!" Thalia just shrugged.

Thalia just shrugged. "I cut it, and I got highlights."

"Awesome!" Nico said as if he were a little kid. Thalia smiled at him, and he blushed.

"Your dad is going to kill you, Thals." Annabeth said as she folded her arms with disapproval.

"Eh, he'll be fine with it. And don't think I've forgotten our _bet, _kiddo." Annabeth looked down on the floor.

"What bet?" I asked.

"Well, Annabeth and I were captains of capture the flag this week. It was 7th versus 6th graders, and Annabeth claimed that she was going to win-"

"We a_lmost, _did." Annabeth interrupted.

"Right. Almost, but you didn't. Anyway, we made a bet that if she won, I would have to wear pink for an entire month. But if _I _won, she would have to dye a streak in her hair, grey." Annabeth put her face in her hands,

"Can't we let that go, Thalia? Please?" She looked up at her best friend, but Thalia showed no sympathy.

"Nope. Sorry kiddo. A bet's a bet. You might as well get it over with now." I strangely felt sorry for Annabeth. I actually thought of getting blue highlights like Thalia's, but it would be weird going around school matching her like that.

"I'll do it." I blurted out. Everyone turned to look at me.

"What?" Thalia asked, confused.

"I'll do it for you." Thalia raised her eyebrows.

"You would dye a _grey _streak in your hair?"

"Why not? It's pretty messed up anyways." I ruffled my hair, and gave a small smile to Annabeth, who was still as shocked as everyone else.

"Wow, your head is more filled with kelp than I thought. Alright. Go on, be the hero." Thalia started to push me away to the back, where she got her hair done. I took a deep breath as I entered. The barber was there. He was a big brute guy with giant hands, ones you really don't want touching your hair.

"Hi. I am Bob, how may I help you?" His voice was deep and intimidating, but he also sounded a little childish.

"Er, hi. Can I get a grey streak in my hair please?" Bob gave me a confused look.

"Grey streak? No man has ever asked for grey streak before."

"I want to look, um, older." It was the first thing that came to mind, but Bob seemed to believe it.

"Oh. That makes sense. Sit there, close your eyes. Do not open them until after Bob is done." I gulped and made my way over to the chair. I sat in it, and it was actually pretty comfy. I closed my eyes as I felt Bob putting something in my hair, and then I drifted off to sleep. I woke up later as I heard Bob's deep voice,

"Okay. Bob is done, you can open eyes now." I opened one eye first, and then the other. The grey streak was right in front of my bangs. It didn't look too bad, but it didn't look great either.

"Thank you, Bob." I stood up and made my way towards the door.

"No, Bob thanks you." He said. I opened the door and waited for what was to come. Thalia gave me a small smirk, as she studied the grey streak in my hair.

"Doesn't look too bad, actually. Annabeth, what do you think?" My eyes widened when I saw her. She had a bunch of grey highlights in her hair. I only had one, but she had several.

"Trying to outdo me Chase?" I managed to say. She came over to me and touched the grey streak in my hair.

"I couldn't let you do it on your own, no matter how tempting it was."

"Thanks." I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

SMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMS

After a while we were finally ready to go home. Annabeth invited all of us to her apartment to hang out. Her stepbrothers were there, but they didn't bother us very much. Helen, Annabeth's stepmom, even baked us cookies. They were tasted great, but they weren't as good as my mom's _blue_ chocolate chip cookies. Those were the best.

"Do you guys want to watch another movie?" Annabeth suggested. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was immediately cut off.

"And no, Percy. We are not watching _Finding Dory." _I pouted, and everyone else laughed. We finally decided on _Brother Bear, _Grover's personal choice. Halfway during the movie, I felt a little tired. Annabeth was sitting on the couch next to me. Grover was in his own chair, and Nico and Thalia were sitting on the floor. I tried to stay awake, but I failed as my eyes started to close on their own.

SMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMSSMS

I felt strangely comfortable as I began to wake up, I felt someone nudging me.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain, wake up." I refused to open my eyes, but this person wouldn't stop bugging me.

"Percy-" I groaned in response.

"Percy! Get up, now." Finally, I opened my eyes. I was startled to see a pair of grey ones hovering above me. Her curly blonde hair with strange highlights flowed on her shoulders. She was looking at me intently, and then I realized where I was. I was sleeping on Annabeth's lap, gods know how that happened. I was horrified, so I did the natural thing. I screamed.

"Ah!" I rolled off of her lap and landed onto the floor. "Ouch."

"Gross, Percy! You drool when you sleep." She dusted off her lap in disgust. Embarrassingly, I used my arm to wipe off the saliva on my mouth.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's ten."

"Ten at night?" She rolls her eyes.

"No, Barnacle Brain. It's ten in the morning, and we have to pick up my dad at the airport. So you'd better go."

"Ten in the morning?! Crap, my mom is probably flipping out. Why didn't you wake me up?"

She looked away from me and found something interesting on the floor. "Hey, I just woke up too, you know."

"Why didn't _they_ wake us up?"

She glares at me. "They were probably too amused by you sleeping on me, Seaweed Brain." I blush uncontrollably, but so does she. I look at my phone, and there were over twenty text messages from my mom. This makes me panic even more as I quickly grab my things. I tucked the surfboard under my arm, and I waved at her.

"Bye Anniebeth!"

"Don't push it, Bed Head." This makes me smile one last time as I run out the door, despite knowing that I was going to a huge lecture when I got home.


	9. chapter nine

**A/N: Summer break, finally! Hopefully I can post more now. Anyway, this chapter skips all the way to October. Next chapter will be set in November (Thanksgiving), and so on and so forth. I will be writing for Percy's ENTIRE middle school experience, which means he will be in 7th and 8th grade eventually. Thanks for the reviews by the way! Really appreciate it.**

* * *

The Halloween dance was coming up.

Not that I cared, but everyone else was freaking out about it, especially the people in my class. It was going to be our very first school dance ever. I didn't want to go originally, but my mom already bought me a costume, so I was stuck. The first time she saw the grey streak in my hair, she totally freaked out. Then I told her why I did it, and she praised me for being "chivalrous"; whatever that means.

Guys were even asking out their dates, which I didn't think most of them had the guts to do. I knew Nico wanted to ask Thalia, but he didn't know how. They became really close friends over the past two months. Most of the time, they would hang out with each other without the rest of us. Both of them were obsessed with horror films, anime, and rock bands. Who knew?

Grover was going with some girl named Juniper. He introduced her to us, and I don't know why, but she seemed a little strange to me. She's really nice and everything, but she is obsessed with nature, trees, and the color green. For example, her hair was _literally _green, and so was her bike. She rides it to school every day just like Grover does. They had so much in common, and maybe that's what freaked me out.

I heard Luke asked Silena Beauregard to go with him. She was a really pretty eighth grader with black hair and blue eyes. She was also popular, and some people stared at her whenever she walked through the hallways (guilty as charged). Of course, Annabeth wasn't too happy about it. She glares at Silena whenever she walks by, but thankfully she's too oblivious to notice.

I wondered if I wanted to ask somebody. I was thinking about asking Annabeth, but why would she want to go with me?

We still argue about stupid things. A couple weeks ago, we were dissecting squids in class, and I "accidently" cut opened the ink sack. The ink squirted all over Annabeth's face, and Mrs. Davidson had to restrain her from stabbing me with a dissecting knife. Afterwards, she made us clean it all up (it was so worth it). Annabeth says I'm more irritating than her stepbrothers; and that if Mrs. Davidson wasn't there that day, I would be in the nurse's office with a dissecting knife in my shoulder.

I was sitting in the cafeteria eating cheese enchiladas, Grover's favorite. Nico and Thalia were busy reading their report cards. We just got our midterm grades today. I didn't even bother to read mine, because I already knew the results. All of my teachers, except Mrs. Davidson came to talk to me. They said that I need to "try harder", and that I was failing their classes. I didn't care. Why can't they understand that not everyone can be a perfect student?

"I can't believe Mr. Satyr gave me B in History," Thalia complained. "That paper I turned in was perfect!"

"Mrs. Dodds gave me a B- in math," Nico said. "It's not my fault she's a terrible teacher!"

"C'mon guys," said Grover. "You didn't do that bad," I watched as he took a massive bite out of his enchilada.

"Yeah right," said Thalia. "Says the guy who only got one B, and by the way, who gets a B in P.E?" She snatched Grover's report card and waved it in front of his face.

Grover angrily snatched it back. "I hate running laps, okay! And Coach Hedge is tough….And mean." I laughed inwardly. _Who cares this much about grades?_

"Hey, how'd you guys do on midterms?" I turned around to see Annabeth carrying her lunch tray. She sits next to me as I scoot over to give her some room.

"We did okay, but we all got B's. What about you?" Thalia asked. Annabeth had a victorious grin on her face. She handed her report card to Thalia, and her eyes widened with surprise.

"You got straight A's?" Grover said with awe.

"Even in Mrs. Dodds class?" said Nico. "Are you bribing her or something?"

Thalia chuckled and handed the report card back to her. "Good job, kiddo."

Annabeth took it and put it away. She nudged me all of the sudden. "What about you Percy? How'd you do?" I couldn't possibly tell everyone my grades aloud, that would be humiliating.

"I don't know. I haven't opened mine yet."

"Well, can you open it now?"

"It's in my locker," I lied. "I'll look at it later." I thought I was in the clear, but then I felt something leave my back pocket.

"What's this then?" Annabeth held up a plain white envelope that was unopened. It was the one that was in my pocket, and the one that will expose my bad grades to everyone.

"That's, uh, an invitation to my Aunt's wedding." She looked at my skeptically, and smirked.

"Oh really?What's her name?"

"She's my Aunt, uh…..Helga." I slapped myself mentally. _Why would I say that?_

Annabeth and my friends snickered. "Aunt Helga?" She confirmed.

"Yes. Aunt Helga."

"Who is she getting married to Percy?" Nico said. "Gaylord?"

Thalia choked on her food, and Nico and Grover went into crazy fits of laughter. I glared at Nico, but he was too busy laughing to notice.

Annabeth turned to my cousin. "So Thalia, do you know an Aunt Helga?" Crap, I forgot Thalia and I were related.

"We certainly don't have an Aunt Helga in my family. And I know Percy doesn't either."

"How would you know?" I complained, "She could be on my mom's side!"

"Unless you come from a family of Vikings Percy, I know you don't have an Aunt Helga. You don't have any aunts at all!"

She was right, I didn't have any aunts. In fact, Zeus was the only uncle I had. I tried to snatch the envelope from Annabeth, but she pulled it away.

"I told you that you were bad at names, Seaweed Brain." She began ripping up the envelope. I became more interested in my food as she began unfolding my report card. When she finally saw it, she gasped, and looked at me in shock.

"You got three F's, one D-, and a B?!" _I got a B? That's awesome! _

"What?" Everyone else said.

"I got a B?!In what class?"

"Science, but that's only because I'm your partner, and I really don't think-" I didn't care for anything else she had to say, as I leapt up from my seat and started to jump around.

"Nico! I got a B! How awesome is that?!"

Nico chuckled. "Congratulations, man. You deserve it."

"Good job Perce," Grover added.

Thalia looked confused. "Why are you guys congratulating him? He's failing four other classes!"

"Percy has never been the 'stellar' student in school," Grover explained.

"He's lucky he's never gotten kicked out," said Nico, "especially after that dodgeball incident."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Dodgeball incident?"

He nodded. "Percy threw a dodgeball at the teacher when he was smoking a cigarette. He dropped it when the ball hit him, and the gym went up in flames. The whole school had to be evacuated."

Annabeth and Thalia looked at me in shock. I held up my hands in defense. "Hey, he shouldn't have been smoking in the first place."

"You threw it at him on purpose," Nico added.

"He never did anything! He just sat there while reading magazines."

"So you couldn't have waiteduntil he put the cigarette down to show your displeasure?" Annabeth suggested.

I grimaced at the memory. "I, I didn't think it through,"

Annabeth scoffed. "You never think things through,"

I shrugged. "That's me for you."

The bell rang, signaling us to go to our next class. I put my tray away and walked over to the lockers to exchange my books. 6th graders automatically got bottom lockers, and I was no exception. I crouched down to pack everything I needed. Then I stood up and turned around, only to meet face to face with Annabeth. She scared the crap out of me, causing myself to jump back into the lockers.

"Did I scare you?" Annabeth teased.

"Not funny, Wise Girl. What do you want?"

"Meet me after school tomorrow."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I'm helping you. There's no way I'm letting you fail the rest of your classes."

"I don't need tutoring," I said stubbornly.

She smirked. "Don't think of it as tutoring. Think of it as helping out a friend."

I cocked an eyebrow. "I'm your friend?"

She gave me an annoyed look. "Of course you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Anymore stupid questions?"

I laughed. "Fine. See you tomorrow, _friend_." She rolled her eyes as she walked away, and I headed off to class with a smile on my face.

* * *

It was Halloween, and I was busy getting ready for the dance. I took a shower, put on my sailor's costume, brushed my teeth, and I was ready to go. However, my mom didn't think that was good enough. She made me brush my hair over and over again until it looked neat. Meaning I had to brush it for over an hour. She also wanted to take a ton of pictures of me.

"Mom, that's enough. Can I go now?" I complained. She put down the camera for a moment.

"Percy, this is your first dance! And you look so handsome in that costume," She pinched my cheeks and I cringed. Then I heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it," I said as I ran towards the door. I opened it, and there stood Nico. He was dressed as the Grim Reaper. His costume was a black cloak with a hood. He had a skull mask and was holding a long scythe.

He lifted up his mask. "Hey Perce, ready to go?"

Nico and I decided to go to the dance together, (and no, I did not ask him out). He was a little late on asking Thalia to the dance, and Ethan beat him to it. So, Nico and I were dateless. Annabeth was going to meet us at the dance, and then go trick-or-treating with us afterwards.

"Yeah Nico, let's-" I was interrupted by my mom's excited squeal.

"You boys look _so_ adorable! Come inside so I can take more pictures of you two."

"Er, okay?" Nico said as he walked inside. We were practically blinded by all of the pictures she took, but after a while we were finally ready to go. I put on my sailor's hat that went with my costume, and Nico and I walked out the door.

"Bye, mom!" I said before walking out of the apartment. We got on the subway to get to the school. For some reason, Nico and I were the only ones on it.

"I can't believe how many pictures for mom took," Nico complained. "My face hurts from smiling so much."

"That's what you get for not asking Thalia sooner," I said.

Nico buried his face in his hands. "Please don't remind me."

* * *

_*Tuesday, three days before the dance*_

I was at my locker getting ready to go to my next class. Nico walked up to me, with a really nervous expression on his face. He was so pale, that it looked like he was about pass out. His usually-intimidating dark eyes showed fear. I looked down at him, and he was holding a rose in one hand, and a box of chocolates in the other. His whole body was shaking. It was pretty obvious on what he was planning to do, and it was my job as his best friend to give him a hard time about it.

"Are you asking me to the dance, Nico? Because if you are I swear-"

"Shut up Percy!" Nico whispered through clenched teeth. "I'm scared, alright? How am I supposed to ask someone like her to go to the dance with me?" He took a quick glance at Thalia, who was casually leaning on the lockers with her headphones in. Her eyes were focused on her iPhone, and she didn't look up at anyone.

"Dude, just ask her already," I said simply. "The worst she can say is 'no, you're disgusting'."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of!" He snapped.

"Oh, you're pretty screwed then."

"Ugh, why did I come to you, for advice?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "If you wanted a wingman, you should've gone to Grover. He has a date."

"Y'know, this is easy for you to say. You're not asking anyone."

I smirked. "Sucks for you. Don't worry, I'll help you out." I began to push Nico down the hall, despite his protests.

"Percy, no! I'm not ready! I change my mind, I-" With one final push, I was able to get him halfway to Thalia.

I took five steps back, and shooed him to make a move already. _Just go._

He looked back at me nervously, and then shifted his eyes back to Thalia. I had the enjoyment of seeing it all play out. After about ten seconds, he took a small step forward. Then he took another, and another, one more, he was almost there, and—

"Thalia!" She looked up from her phone, only to see someone coming towards her. It was Ethan Nakamura. He jogged all the way from the end of the hall. Thalia turned around, with her back now facing Nico, who stopped dead in his tracks. I saw her take her headphones out, and I was actually able to hear the conversation.

"What's up Ethan?" I heard Thalia say.

"I, um, wanted to give you this." Ethan handed Thalia a CD case. She looked at it, and a huge smile appeared on her face.

"You bought Queen's best album?!"

He smiled and looked at the ground shyly. "Yeah. I got it for you."

Thalia paused before replying. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yep. Would you like to go to the dance with me?" He looked at her with anticipation, and she smiled even more.

"Sure, Ethan. I'll go with you." I saw his brown eyes light up.

"Cool."

They hugged, and Ethan jogged away. Nico, looking defeated, dumped his romantic items into the trash next to him. Good thing he did, because Thalia turned around just after that. She saw Nico, and ran up to him.

"Hey Nico! Ethan just bought me Queen's best album, how cool is that?"

Nico looked at her with sad eyes. "Great," he said with complete monotone.

She playfully punched him in the arm. It must've hurt, because he winced in pain. I don't blame him, Thalia was really strong.

"Come over to my apartment tonight and we can listen to it together, okay?"

He grimaced. "Oh, okay."

Thalia was obviously too happy to see Nico's pain. She punched him again, harder than the last time, and walked the other way. It took a while for Nico to comprehend what just happened before he was able to move again. He walked over my way with his head down in shame. I felt sorry for him.

He ran his hands through his long shaggy hair. "I can't believe that just happened."

"Dude, you just got friend-zoned." I know that it was mean to say, but it was true.

He gave me a confused look. "What does that mean?"

"It means that she will never, ever, see you more than a friend. You guys will be best friends, but nothing more."

He stared at me with the most depressing look ever. "Does that mean she doesn't like me?"

I shook my head, "Sorry man. You should probably get over her."

He hit his forehead on the lockers, "Yeah…You're probably right."

* * *

_*Present day*_

"C'mon Nico," I said. "It wasn't like you were actually gonna to do it."

"Yes I was!" He exclaimed. "You saw the things I got her, and I was almost there! If it weren't for stupid Ethan Nakamura…."

"Yeah, right. You probably would've chickened out or something."

"You were the one who said I should tell her how I feel!"

"I was _joking, _Nico. Thalia's a grade above you. She's older than you, taller than you, stronger than-"

"Alright, I get it. Sheesh, I don't even like her anymore." _Yeah, right._

"Whatever you say."

When we arrived at the school, we could hear the music blasting from outside. After walking through the halls, we entered the gym. The music was obnoxiously loud and there were strobe lights that lit up the room. The decorations weren't that impressive to be honest, but at least they had a lot of food. That's where we went first. After grabbing everything we could, we sat against the wall and watched people dance to 'The Worst Top Forty'. There was a DJ playing music and there were teachers chaperoning. I was surprised that there weren't a lot of people wearing costumes, or dancing. It was mostly the guys who played basketball or talked in the corner. Then I saw Annabeth. She wasn't wearing a costume, only a dark blue dress with an owl necklace and matching earrings. She looked really pretty regardless. She spotted us, and started walking our way.

"Nice costume, Seaweed Brain. It really resembles you."

I looked up at her. "I didn't stuff any seaweed in my head, if that's what you're thinking."

She laughed a little. "You look good too, Nico."

"Thanks," Nico grumbled. I saw his eyes wander across the room where Thalia was dancing with a bunch of 7th graders, including Ethan.

Annabeth turned to me again. "Why aren't you guys dancing?"

I shook my head. "Don't feel like it,"

She rolled her eyes. "That's what all guys say,"

"Well, I just really don't like to dance."

"Especially to terrible music," Nico said as he covered his ears. All of the sudden, Annabeth gripped each of our arms to haul us up.

"C'mon guys, it won't be that bad." Before we could protest, we were dragged to the middle of the dance floor. I thought we might as well get it over with. After about twenty minutes of dancing with each other, we were extremely tired. The gym was stuffy enough as it was. We clumsily walked to our previous spot, and this time all of us sat down, exhausted and fatigued.

"See, that was fun, right? Annabeth managed to breathe out.

"Yeah, so much, fun," Nico said tiredly.

"Hey Annabeth, how are you supposed to go trick-or-treating with us if-"

I stopped myself after I saw Thalia and Ethan walking towards us. Thalia laughed as he whispered something in her ear. I felt Nico tense up next to me. As they approached, he forced himself to look away from them.

"Nice dancing out there Kelp Head. I didn't think you had it in you," I took a good look at Thalia. She wasn't wearing a costume either. Instead she was in her usual outfit of black clothes and combat shoes. The blue highlights were still in her hair. Ethan was wearing a ninja suit, and a sword (hopefully fake) was attached at his side.

"Thanks, Thals. What did you dress up as, Goth girl?" I joked, but she didn't find it funny. She raised a clenched fist, and I used my hands to protect my vulnerable face.

I heard her laugh. "Don't worry cuz, I won't hit you. But you better not call me Goth again, kapeesh?" I nodded in relief. I took a glance at Annabeth who seemed to be scowling at something. I noticed where she was looking; it was Luke talking to Silena by the food table.

"Jealous much?" I teased.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said with folded arms.

"Uh-huh."

She glared daggers at me, but I didn't back down. We finally stopped after we heard Thalia cough uncomfortably.

"I think Kelp Head's got a point there, kiddo."

Annabeth shifted her gaze to Thalia. "What do you mean?"

"You're mad that Luke asked Silena to the dance, aren't you?"

"Pfft, no I'm not."

Ethan spoke up, "If it helps, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Annabeth gave him an angry stare. "I said I don't _care." _ Speak of the devil, I saw Luke approaching us. He was wearing a burglar outfit, and his ski mask was pulled down around his neck. Annabeth's eyes went wide, and then they turned angry. She looked away from him just like Nico did to Thalia.

"Hey," Luke said casually. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, nothing." Thalia smirked at Annabeth, but she didn't look up. I heard the DJ announce that he was going to play a slow song. Most people groaned and walked off the dance floor. Some guys started asking girls to dance with them. I would be really embarrassed if I ever had to do something like that.

"So, Annabeth," Luke began to say, "would you like to dance with me?"

She looked shocked at first, but then she turned cold. "What about Silena," she said bitterly.

There was mischievous glint in his eyes that I've never seen before. It almost looked evil.

"Silena? Oh, I only asked her out because it was part of the plan."

Annabeth started to show interest. "Plan?"

"We made a plot to get Beckendorf and Silena together," said Ethan. "It was so obvious that they liked each other, but neither of them would admit it." He pointed to Charles and Silena who were slow dancing with each other. The 8th graders were wolf whistling and cheering for them. "See?"

"So you asked Silena to the dance to make Beckendorf jealous?" Annabeth said impressively. "That was…..really clever actually."

"You still haven't answered my question." Luke offered a hand to Annabeth. She blushed as he helped her stand up.

"Sure Luke, I'd love to." He gave her a brilliant white smile, and she blushed even more.

"Also, do you want to go trick-or-treating with us later? All of the 7th graders are going, right Ethan?"

"Yep," Ethan replied.

"I'm coming too," said Thalia.

Annabeth looked disappointed. "I didn't bring a costume."

Luke gave her a mischievous grin. "Don't worry. We'll get some candy for you. Besides, I really want you to come with us." Her face flushed as he smiled at her.

"You guys can come too," Thalia said. Nico still didn't look at her, and I could tell he didn't want to be around them.

I shrugged. "Nah, you guys can go. Nico and I already planned on going somewhere." Nico gave a grateful yet sad smile.

Luke grabbed Annabeth's hand. "C'mon Annie, the song's almost over." I watched as he walked her to the dance floor with Ethan and Thalia trailing behind them. Annabeth put her hands on Luke's shoulders and he put his hands on her waist. Ethan and Thalia followed the same motions. I was slightly impressed how Luke was able to not step on Annabeth's toes. But I also had this feeling, a weird one. It felt like _emptiness. _I had no idea why I felt like that, but keeping my eyes off of them seemed to help. _It must be because I'm not dancing, _I told myself. I looked at Nico instead. He had his eyes trained on Thalia and Ethan. They were smiling and swaying calmly to the music. I continued to watch as Ethan leaned in and gave Thalia a quick peck on the lips. She beamed at him. Nico's left eye started to twitch. He was trying not to show any emotion, but I knew that wouldn't last long.

"Hey Nico," I said shaking him out of his trance, "wanna go trick-or-treating early?"

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's get out of here." As we stood up and left the gym, I realized how relieved I actually was. It was really awkward for me watching everyone dance like that, especially Luke and Annabeth, for some reason. We left so early that we didn't even say 'hi' to Grover or Juniper. That was okay though, because they didn't go trick-or-treating anyways. Something about sugar being bad for the digestive system or whatever. Afterwards, Nico and I still had fun. Since it was just the two of us, we got more candy at each house. Nico even convinced me to buy eggs at the local store so that we could throw them at some of the houses. The Halloween dance really wasn't the highlight of my night, but running away from pranked, angry old man that threatened to beat us up with his walking stick, was.


End file.
